Apparently I have been slacking on this.
Anyway so Sarah left but it was a lot of fun to have her here. Then I went back to school which was a joy and then on Wednesday, Serge came. Now my boyfriend.
We had a lot of fun and we hungout with my friends here a lot and he met my host family. It was fun and I enjoyed spending time with him. I mainly just went to school while he was here and did homework. Nothing special or very exciting.
Other than him being here not much as been new. I come home in 6 days. Weird. I am excited but it has gone by fast. I can not believe it is already May. Anyway I have my phonetics final on Monday and will be studying for that all weekend. Spain is still going well and it has been beautiful here lately. Days at the beach and time spend outside with friends are nice. I am so glad I came on this trip and I have experienced so much and been able to do so many cool things and meet amazing people. My spanish has improved and I really look forward to keep using it in my life.
Anyway, I can not wait to see you all and show you my photos.
See you soon!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Paris and Barcelona
Well we are back in Valencia after a long trip. I had a lot of fun and I am so glad that Sarah was able to come over and travel with me. Tomorrow Sarah leaves and I don't have class again until Tuesday so I plan to rest all day and do homework because I am exhausted.
Paris
We arrived in Paris after a wonderful time in sunny Rome. The first day in Paris we saw the Eifel Tower, The Louvre Musuem (where the Mona Lisa is), and Norte Dame. Everything was so pretty there and we climbed to the top of the towers at Notre Dame and the view was amazing.
The next day in Paris we saw both the Eifel Tower and Moulin Rouge at night. They were really cool. We spent most of the day at Versailes, which is where the King use to live. We actually met a boy from California and he spent the day with us. We even took a boat ride on the pond were the King use to hold boating parties. That was really cool. The gardens there were beautiful and I can't imagine how packed it is there in the summer. We also went to The D'Orrsy Musuem that day as well and saw some Van Gough and Monet. But the paintings that Sarah and I wanted to see the most were not there. That was sad. We also saw the Arc de Triumpe. That was cool too and huge.
Both nights for dinner we ate Omlets and during the day we ate a lot of Crepes. They are sooo yummy. I am going to miss them now that I am back in Spain. But Paris was gorgeous and I had so much fun. Our hostel there was really nice.
Barcelona
We left Paris and headed off to Barcelona. We stayed with Josep and Imma. Josep is an old foreign exchange student from Lapeer of one of my mom's friends from work. Josep is 34 and his wife and him were married in May. They live in a beautiful condo and are super super nice. They cooked dinner and breakfast for us both days. Saturday we went into the city and they went with us. We took a tour around Barcelona and saw things like Sagrada Familia and Parque Guel by Guadi. They were really pretty things. We also all went out to lunch. It was cool. I spoke Spanish a bit with them so it was nice to realize that I really do know how to speak.
Back to Valencia
We came back today from Barcelona and just walked around Valencia. Sarah and I hungout with my friend Kaitlyn from here for a bit. Sarah also met my family and they seemed to like her. We spoke in Spanish which Sarah does not know so that must have been hard. Haha. She should learn.
All in all my time with Sarah has been great. I have enjoyed traveling all over Europe and liked Paris a lot more than I thought I would. You always here mixed thoughts about it. Sarah leaves tomorrow and it'll be sad. But I will be back in the USA in 2.5 weeks. HOW WEIRD!!!???!!! On Wednesday Serge comes to visit from Belgium until Monday. So that'll be fun.
Well Love you
Paris
We arrived in Paris after a wonderful time in sunny Rome. The first day in Paris we saw the Eifel Tower, The Louvre Musuem (where the Mona Lisa is), and Norte Dame. Everything was so pretty there and we climbed to the top of the towers at Notre Dame and the view was amazing.
The next day in Paris we saw both the Eifel Tower and Moulin Rouge at night. They were really cool. We spent most of the day at Versailes, which is where the King use to live. We actually met a boy from California and he spent the day with us. We even took a boat ride on the pond were the King use to hold boating parties. That was really cool. The gardens there were beautiful and I can't imagine how packed it is there in the summer. We also went to The D'Orrsy Musuem that day as well and saw some Van Gough and Monet. But the paintings that Sarah and I wanted to see the most were not there. That was sad. We also saw the Arc de Triumpe. That was cool too and huge.
Both nights for dinner we ate Omlets and during the day we ate a lot of Crepes. They are sooo yummy. I am going to miss them now that I am back in Spain. But Paris was gorgeous and I had so much fun. Our hostel there was really nice.
Barcelona
We left Paris and headed off to Barcelona. We stayed with Josep and Imma. Josep is an old foreign exchange student from Lapeer of one of my mom's friends from work. Josep is 34 and his wife and him were married in May. They live in a beautiful condo and are super super nice. They cooked dinner and breakfast for us both days. Saturday we went into the city and they went with us. We took a tour around Barcelona and saw things like Sagrada Familia and Parque Guel by Guadi. They were really pretty things. We also all went out to lunch. It was cool. I spoke Spanish a bit with them so it was nice to realize that I really do know how to speak.
Back to Valencia
We came back today from Barcelona and just walked around Valencia. Sarah and I hungout with my friend Kaitlyn from here for a bit. Sarah also met my family and they seemed to like her. We spoke in Spanish which Sarah does not know so that must have been hard. Haha. She should learn.
All in all my time with Sarah has been great. I have enjoyed traveling all over Europe and liked Paris a lot more than I thought I would. You always here mixed thoughts about it. Sarah leaves tomorrow and it'll be sad. But I will be back in the USA in 2.5 weeks. HOW WEIRD!!!???!!! On Wednesday Serge comes to visit from Belgium until Monday. So that'll be fun.
Well Love you
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sarah in Spain and our trip to Rome
Valencia with Sarah
My week went by fast and then next thing I knew it was the day Sarah arrived in Valencia. She made it safely and it was really good to see her. We checked into our hotel which was really nice and then went around Valencia. We ate pallea for lunch, a Spain must. It was a beautiful sunny day. We climbed up El Miguete, the church tower, in Valencia and it was really cool. I had not done it yet and the view was amazing. The stairs were a little hard to climb and they were steep but we made it. Sarah was a trooper even though she was tired the whole day. She met two of my friends, Jana and Kaitlyn, before they left for Dublin. For dinner we ate at Pizza Hut. It was so yummy. Everything was closed because Thursday was a holiday in Spain because of the Last Supper. Then we went to bed early because Sarah had jetleg. Other than that it was just good to see Sarah and I am really glad that she came. We left Friday for Rome.
Rome
We got to Rome safely and checked into our hostel. We were in a ten person mixed dorm room and I had a lot of worries. But all has been going well, tonight is our last night there. We have not had any problems there and it is a really great location. We are about a 10 minute walk from the Collessuem. Anyway so Friday night we arrived and then we went to the Trevi Fountian and The Spanish Steps. There were a ton of people. The Trevi Fountain was all lite up and it was really pretty. Then we went out to dinner for pasta of course. I love Italian food.
Saturday morning we got up early and went to begin our day at The Vatican. There was a really long line outside to get into St. Peter's but it was a nice day out so we did not mind waiting. St. Peter's was beautiful. Then we went out to lunch for pizza. After that we went to the Vatican Musuems and of course saw the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing and beautiful. We also went to the castle by the Vatican. That took up the whole day but for dinner we went around to Piazza Novana which is really cool and full of painters and their beautiful paintings. Dinner was yummy as well.
Sunday was Easter but everything was opened still. We spent the day at the Colosseum, The Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, and The Pantheom. We paid 22 euros for the Colosseum, Palantine Hill and Roman Forum together and recieved a guided tour. This was really cool because we leanred a lot of the history about each thing. It was amazing to see all of this and wonder how they built this stuff and everything. I can't wait to show everyone photos.
Today, Monday, Sarah and I are not in as big of a rush since we leave tomorrow for Paris. We saw The Baths of Carcall today, which were really cool and were all the rich Romans use to go to bathe themselves. We also went to the old Jewish ghetto, the place they use to do chariot races, and the pymarid were someone unimportant but with a lot of money was burried and it was built in 12 BC in 330 days.
Anyway, I love Rome. It is beautiful and there is so much to see and do. I can not wait to come back and we able to go visit more places. It is so beautiful here and the food is amazing. Between Sarah and myself, we have probaly tried about every flavor or Gelato that they have. We have been eating it a lot but also walking a ton so hopefully that stops us from gaining weight.
Well back to the city of Rome I go.
Love, Em
My week went by fast and then next thing I knew it was the day Sarah arrived in Valencia. She made it safely and it was really good to see her. We checked into our hotel which was really nice and then went around Valencia. We ate pallea for lunch, a Spain must. It was a beautiful sunny day. We climbed up El Miguete, the church tower, in Valencia and it was really cool. I had not done it yet and the view was amazing. The stairs were a little hard to climb and they were steep but we made it. Sarah was a trooper even though she was tired the whole day. She met two of my friends, Jana and Kaitlyn, before they left for Dublin. For dinner we ate at Pizza Hut. It was so yummy. Everything was closed because Thursday was a holiday in Spain because of the Last Supper. Then we went to bed early because Sarah had jetleg. Other than that it was just good to see Sarah and I am really glad that she came. We left Friday for Rome.
Rome
We got to Rome safely and checked into our hostel. We were in a ten person mixed dorm room and I had a lot of worries. But all has been going well, tonight is our last night there. We have not had any problems there and it is a really great location. We are about a 10 minute walk from the Collessuem. Anyway so Friday night we arrived and then we went to the Trevi Fountian and The Spanish Steps. There were a ton of people. The Trevi Fountain was all lite up and it was really pretty. Then we went out to dinner for pasta of course. I love Italian food.
Saturday morning we got up early and went to begin our day at The Vatican. There was a really long line outside to get into St. Peter's but it was a nice day out so we did not mind waiting. St. Peter's was beautiful. Then we went out to lunch for pizza. After that we went to the Vatican Musuems and of course saw the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing and beautiful. We also went to the castle by the Vatican. That took up the whole day but for dinner we went around to Piazza Novana which is really cool and full of painters and their beautiful paintings. Dinner was yummy as well.
Sunday was Easter but everything was opened still. We spent the day at the Colosseum, The Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, and The Pantheom. We paid 22 euros for the Colosseum, Palantine Hill and Roman Forum together and recieved a guided tour. This was really cool because we leanred a lot of the history about each thing. It was amazing to see all of this and wonder how they built this stuff and everything. I can't wait to show everyone photos.
Today, Monday, Sarah and I are not in as big of a rush since we leave tomorrow for Paris. We saw The Baths of Carcall today, which were really cool and were all the rich Romans use to go to bathe themselves. We also went to the old Jewish ghetto, the place they use to do chariot races, and the pymarid were someone unimportant but with a lot of money was burried and it was built in 12 BC in 330 days.
Anyway, I love Rome. It is beautiful and there is so much to see and do. I can not wait to come back and we able to go visit more places. It is so beautiful here and the food is amazing. Between Sarah and myself, we have probaly tried about every flavor or Gelato that they have. We have been eating it a lot but also walking a ton so hopefully that stops us from gaining weight.
Well back to the city of Rome I go.
Love, Em
Sunday, April 5, 2009
GO GREEN!..and Spain things
Hola!
First off, GO STATE!
Sorry sorry sorry. I have been forgetting.
So good news...Sarah comes in 4 days. 4 days. I am so excited. I can not believe it is almost here. Here I come Rome and Paris!
So School last week went good. Wednesday I had a phonetics quiz and this one really sucked. It was hard and I stuided a lot. So I was upset but now I am just letting it go. I'll find out what I got on it tomorrow. The rest of the week just flew by. After class Wednesday, Thursday and Friday some of us went to Dick Tracy's, a bar by the school, where you can get 3 beers for 1 euro. It was fun. Its nice just to hangout and have a good time.
Yesterday the school went to the City of Arts and Sciences here in Valencia. There is an oceangraphy musuem and it was really cool. My favorite thing was the dolphin show and then the tunnel that you walk thru where all the animals swim above you. I looked up and there was a shark right there!!! How cool! I had a good time and it was a gorgeous day. After that, we went out for drinks and then Becky and I stopped at the mall that is over there just to look around. Its a huge mall and we didn't buy anything. Then of course I stayed up to watch my MSU online! I am so excited that we won but I am pretty sad that I am not at MSU right now. I wish I was there celebrating with everyone and I miss them but oh well. The game was great and a lot of times I got nervous but in the end we won and that is all that matters.
Today I worked on some homework and tonight I am going to a soccer game. I am excited because I haven't been to on yet. It starts at 7 and then I have school tomorrow. We only have 3 days this week so I am sure that it'll go by fast. Then Sarah will be here on Thursday and we leave on Friday for Rome. Thursday I will show her around the city if she isn't too jetlegged.
Not much else is going on in my life. School is good. Friends and Family here are good. However, I am going thru chicken withdrawls because it has been a while since we had it. Hopefully we have it soon or I'll get some on vacation with Sarah. So things are good. I come home pretty soon. I can not believe that I have been here this long already. It is so crazy to thing that.
Given the chance, I would do it again. I know it was hard for me in the beginning but I am adjusted. Even though I am ready to go home, I know once I get there, part of me is going to miss my Spain life. Not that it's special really but it's just like when you go home from MSU for the summer and you miss it. It becomes a part of you. Spanish is such a big part of me now. I can't imagine what it is going to be like not speaking it everyday.
Well I will write before Sarah and I leave on our trip. Happy Palm Sunday!
Love you.
Root MSU on tomorrow!
First off, GO STATE!
Sorry sorry sorry. I have been forgetting.
So good news...Sarah comes in 4 days. 4 days. I am so excited. I can not believe it is almost here. Here I come Rome and Paris!
So School last week went good. Wednesday I had a phonetics quiz and this one really sucked. It was hard and I stuided a lot. So I was upset but now I am just letting it go. I'll find out what I got on it tomorrow. The rest of the week just flew by. After class Wednesday, Thursday and Friday some of us went to Dick Tracy's, a bar by the school, where you can get 3 beers for 1 euro. It was fun. Its nice just to hangout and have a good time.
Yesterday the school went to the City of Arts and Sciences here in Valencia. There is an oceangraphy musuem and it was really cool. My favorite thing was the dolphin show and then the tunnel that you walk thru where all the animals swim above you. I looked up and there was a shark right there!!! How cool! I had a good time and it was a gorgeous day. After that, we went out for drinks and then Becky and I stopped at the mall that is over there just to look around. Its a huge mall and we didn't buy anything. Then of course I stayed up to watch my MSU online! I am so excited that we won but I am pretty sad that I am not at MSU right now. I wish I was there celebrating with everyone and I miss them but oh well. The game was great and a lot of times I got nervous but in the end we won and that is all that matters.
Today I worked on some homework and tonight I am going to a soccer game. I am excited because I haven't been to on yet. It starts at 7 and then I have school tomorrow. We only have 3 days this week so I am sure that it'll go by fast. Then Sarah will be here on Thursday and we leave on Friday for Rome. Thursday I will show her around the city if she isn't too jetlegged.
Not much else is going on in my life. School is good. Friends and Family here are good. However, I am going thru chicken withdrawls because it has been a while since we had it. Hopefully we have it soon or I'll get some on vacation with Sarah. So things are good. I come home pretty soon. I can not believe that I have been here this long already. It is so crazy to thing that.
Given the chance, I would do it again. I know it was hard for me in the beginning but I am adjusted. Even though I am ready to go home, I know once I get there, part of me is going to miss my Spain life. Not that it's special really but it's just like when you go home from MSU for the summer and you miss it. It becomes a part of you. Spanish is such a big part of me now. I can't imagine what it is going to be like not speaking it everyday.
Well I will write before Sarah and I leave on our trip. Happy Palm Sunday!
Love you.
Root MSU on tomorrow!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
My weekend
It was a very eventful weekend that is deffinatly for sure.
Friday we went to the beach and layed in the sun all day. The water is cold but not as cold as the great lakes are in May. We just dipped our feet. At first it was just Jana, Kaitlyn, Becky and I but then Jeff came and met up with us. It was fun to have American friend talking time in all english. After the beach Jeff headed his way home and the 4 of us girls went into town to get some Sangria and tapas. We went into town and got a liter of Sangria, it was really good but strong. We then went to find another place for more Sangria and ran into these 4 boys who looked American. They walked passed us and then walked back towards us. Turns out that they are in the Navy and were in port here until Monday morning. Then they were headed back to the USA. Of course we were all jealous because they are going home and we still have to stay here. But they have been out since September so they deserve to go home more than us. Anyway, they were all really nice and it was nice to see American boys and hangout with other Americans. We decided that we were going to met up with them Saturday during the day too.
Saturday came and the 4 of us girls went into the center of town to met the boys. We had some agua de valencia first (the drink most famous here, orange juice, vodka and champagne.) It is really good. Anyway so then we met up with the boys. We just went around place to place all day, eating and drinking. The boys bought everything so that was deffinatly nice. It was a bit drama filled though because some of the boys and girls got really drunk. Becky and I were the sober ones because we had not drank enough to be drunk. Anyway it was fun though and we ended up splitting from the boys. It was a fun day and we had a good time.
Today I met with Kaitlyn this morning and got my paper all written. Then I went home for lunch and now I am back with Kaitlyn and Jana doing more homework. Lets see what else I have to tell you guys, I finished the thrid Twilight book and am going to start the fourth one soon. They are good but I really love Harry Potter more. Tuesday I have a paper due for literary analysis which is the one that I wrote today. I have a phonetics quiz Wednesday and a rough draft of my research paper due Friday. We have five days of school this week which really sucks. Saturday we go to the Oceanographic park in Valencia. It's in the City of Arts and Sciences here which is really cool. I haven't been over there much because it is far from my school.
Anyway so everything is going well, my food is good, school is going well and things are good with the host family and my friends here.
Anyway, hope everyone had a good weekend.
Love you
Friday we went to the beach and layed in the sun all day. The water is cold but not as cold as the great lakes are in May. We just dipped our feet. At first it was just Jana, Kaitlyn, Becky and I but then Jeff came and met up with us. It was fun to have American friend talking time in all english. After the beach Jeff headed his way home and the 4 of us girls went into town to get some Sangria and tapas. We went into town and got a liter of Sangria, it was really good but strong. We then went to find another place for more Sangria and ran into these 4 boys who looked American. They walked passed us and then walked back towards us. Turns out that they are in the Navy and were in port here until Monday morning. Then they were headed back to the USA. Of course we were all jealous because they are going home and we still have to stay here. But they have been out since September so they deserve to go home more than us. Anyway, they were all really nice and it was nice to see American boys and hangout with other Americans. We decided that we were going to met up with them Saturday during the day too.
Saturday came and the 4 of us girls went into the center of town to met the boys. We had some agua de valencia first (the drink most famous here, orange juice, vodka and champagne.) It is really good. Anyway so then we met up with the boys. We just went around place to place all day, eating and drinking. The boys bought everything so that was deffinatly nice. It was a bit drama filled though because some of the boys and girls got really drunk. Becky and I were the sober ones because we had not drank enough to be drunk. Anyway it was fun though and we ended up splitting from the boys. It was a fun day and we had a good time.
Today I met with Kaitlyn this morning and got my paper all written. Then I went home for lunch and now I am back with Kaitlyn and Jana doing more homework. Lets see what else I have to tell you guys, I finished the thrid Twilight book and am going to start the fourth one soon. They are good but I really love Harry Potter more. Tuesday I have a paper due for literary analysis which is the one that I wrote today. I have a phonetics quiz Wednesday and a rough draft of my research paper due Friday. We have five days of school this week which really sucks. Saturday we go to the Oceanographic park in Valencia. It's in the City of Arts and Sciences here which is really cool. I haven't been over there much because it is far from my school.
Anyway so everything is going well, my food is good, school is going well and things are good with the host family and my friends here.
Anyway, hope everyone had a good weekend.
Love you
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Hola
Things have been going well at school this week so there is not much new to report.
I have a paper due today that I worked really hard on so hopefully I get a good grade. We don't have school tomorrow so some of us are going to the beach. Its suppose to be 76. YAY. I miss the warm weather.
This weekend I have a lot of homework to do. I have a paper due on tuesday and then on thursday I have a rough draft for another paper due. But I am going to try and enjoy myself too.
Sarah comes in 2 weeks from today. I am so excited. We are going to have a great time in Rome, Paris and Barcelona.
Things have been going well with my host family. I talk to my host family more now. Mostly just my host mom but its still nice. All the food I have been eating has been good. I really enjoy it. Everything is a lot healthier here so it'll be interesting to see what happens when I go back to the USA.
I still talk to my belgium friend for those of you that are wondering. He is coming to visit the last week in April. 2 days after my sister leaves, he comes. So that'll be nice. Then I will be heading back to the USA on a thursday and staying in DC until sunday.
But yeah things are going good. Sorry my life is boring so I don't have more to report.
Love you
I have a paper due today that I worked really hard on so hopefully I get a good grade. We don't have school tomorrow so some of us are going to the beach. Its suppose to be 76. YAY. I miss the warm weather.
This weekend I have a lot of homework to do. I have a paper due on tuesday and then on thursday I have a rough draft for another paper due. But I am going to try and enjoy myself too.
Sarah comes in 2 weeks from today. I am so excited. We are going to have a great time in Rome, Paris and Barcelona.
Things have been going well with my host family. I talk to my host family more now. Mostly just my host mom but its still nice. All the food I have been eating has been good. I really enjoy it. Everything is a lot healthier here so it'll be interesting to see what happens when I go back to the USA.
I still talk to my belgium friend for those of you that are wondering. He is coming to visit the last week in April. 2 days after my sister leaves, he comes. So that'll be nice. Then I will be heading back to the USA on a thursday and staying in DC until sunday.
But yeah things are going good. Sorry my life is boring so I don't have more to report.
Love you
Monday, March 23, 2009
Back to school!
Well we are back at school today. Oh joy. I got an 80 on my phonetics quiz so at leat I am doing better in that class now.
The rest of the weekend went really well. Friday I went shopping with Kaitlyn and out to lunch. I bought gifts for those of you back home and got myself a new pair of sandals :). I spent a lot of money so hopefully I have some left when I return home. At night, I just did homework.
Saturday, Kaitlyn and I got together and did more homework. We had a whole novel to read for our literary anylsis class. We finished it and talked about it together. My family came home Saturday night, or my host parents, since my siblings were already home. They had a good time away but they missed me. It was nice to speak Spanish with them again and enjoy her home cooking.
Yesterday I finished the second twilight book and started the thrid. I read outside on our patio because the sun was shinning. It was so nice and of course I did some homework. We had chicken paella again for lunch yesterday. I am going to miss it so much. It is my favorite food here. I talked to my parents last night and that was good. I sign up for summer classes tomorrow and then I will be able to start figuring out my fall and spring schedule. It is hard to schedule them and even harder being here. But whatever, I know that I can figure it out.
This week is not very busy. Thats nice. We don't have school this Friday but I am going to stay in Valencia. Hopefully go to the beach if its nice enough outside. Well I am off to watch some online tv before class starts.
LOVE YOU
The rest of the weekend went really well. Friday I went shopping with Kaitlyn and out to lunch. I bought gifts for those of you back home and got myself a new pair of sandals :). I spent a lot of money so hopefully I have some left when I return home. At night, I just did homework.
Saturday, Kaitlyn and I got together and did more homework. We had a whole novel to read for our literary anylsis class. We finished it and talked about it together. My family came home Saturday night, or my host parents, since my siblings were already home. They had a good time away but they missed me. It was nice to speak Spanish with them again and enjoy her home cooking.
Yesterday I finished the second twilight book and started the thrid. I read outside on our patio because the sun was shinning. It was so nice and of course I did some homework. We had chicken paella again for lunch yesterday. I am going to miss it so much. It is my favorite food here. I talked to my parents last night and that was good. I sign up for summer classes tomorrow and then I will be able to start figuring out my fall and spring schedule. It is hard to schedule them and even harder being here. But whatever, I know that I can figure it out.
This week is not very busy. Thats nice. We don't have school this Friday but I am going to stay in Valencia. Hopefully go to the beach if its nice enough outside. Well I am off to watch some online tv before class starts.
LOVE YOU
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
London, Dublin, and Las Fallas
Well hello there.
So London was amazing. I love it. So beautiful and so many things to see. The accents there are great and everyone is so nice. I can't even explain how much fun I had and how I wished that I was doing the Literature in London Program. I love London and can not wait to go back at some point in my life.
So we left friday afternoon and arrived to London. We got to our hostel where a pipe had been broken in our room so we got switched to another hostel. I was a little pissed because I picked a hostel in the district my sister told me to and then it didn't work anyway. The other hostel was nice and it wasn't in a bad location. It just wasn't where we were expecting to be. We went out to dinner and it was really yummy. The next day I had a panic attack because I lost my passport but turns out it was at the restaurant. Thankgod. So all is well with that.
Saturday we woke up and went around the city, we saw the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Kings Cross Station and other random things. We had a really good time and enjoyed seeing the city. I also fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams that day, standing on platform 9 3/4. It was great to finally do it. Sunday we got up and went to tour again. We saw Changing of the Guards at the Palace and went to Hyde Park, Covent Market, Picadilly Circus, and Oxford Street. At Hyde Park, I saw the Peter Pan Statue, which has been another dream of mine. So yay. I travled and did 2 things on my to do list for my life.
Monday morning we got up super early to catch our 6:30 am flight to Dublin. Well our train was late and we ended up missing our flight. We had to pay 71 euros to get on the next one. Luckly we did not miss that one and we arrived in Dublin safely. All went well there. We napped and then walked around the city. There is not that much to do in Dublin and next time I go to Ireland, I want to go to the countryside. Dublin reminded me a lot of the USA but that could be because there were so many Americans there for St Patrick's Day. Anyway, that day we went to the Guiness Storehouse. That was cool and fun. We got to pull our own pint of Guiness for free and drink it for free. Of course I didn't drink the whole think since it was so digusting. Haha. Anywway after that we went back to the hostel for a nap because it was about 8pm. We ended up falling asleep and never getting up because we were so tired. We slept in until 10 am on Tuesday.
We went into town for St Patrick's Day. We watched the parade, which was really cool, and then went to St Patricks Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral. A lot was closed because of the "holiday". There was so many people there. The streets were just crowded. It was a good time though. We went back to the hostel and got ready to enjoy the night out on St Patrick's Day. I know everyone will be sad when I say this but, I didn't get drunk. We drink just not enough to get drunk. We met some IRish boys and talked to them for awhile and then went back to get some sleep. We arrived at the airport early and did not miss our flight. We arrived safely in Valencia.
Now as I have talked about, this is the week of Las Fallas here. The huge festival were they have floats just all over the streets and at the end they burn them. The city population goes from 800,000 to 3 million. Anyway so last night I went out with Kaitlyn and we watched the fireworks. Today was the last day and they burned them. The streets were so crazy last night and there are so many people. It is not as cool as I thought it would be.
Today I layed out in the sun for about 2 hours because it was 74 and then went and saw Marley and Me in spanish with Kaitlyn and her host mom. It was nice. I have a lot of homework to finish before I have to go back to school on monday. I guess I forgot to mention that my host parents are on vacation right now so my host sister has been cooking for me. I feel bad but oh well. Other than that not much is new. London is the best place I have ever been in my life.
I will write soon. Let me know if you have any questions about my trips.
Love you
So London was amazing. I love it. So beautiful and so many things to see. The accents there are great and everyone is so nice. I can't even explain how much fun I had and how I wished that I was doing the Literature in London Program. I love London and can not wait to go back at some point in my life.
So we left friday afternoon and arrived to London. We got to our hostel where a pipe had been broken in our room so we got switched to another hostel. I was a little pissed because I picked a hostel in the district my sister told me to and then it didn't work anyway. The other hostel was nice and it wasn't in a bad location. It just wasn't where we were expecting to be. We went out to dinner and it was really yummy. The next day I had a panic attack because I lost my passport but turns out it was at the restaurant. Thankgod. So all is well with that.
Saturday we woke up and went around the city, we saw the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Kings Cross Station and other random things. We had a really good time and enjoyed seeing the city. I also fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams that day, standing on platform 9 3/4. It was great to finally do it. Sunday we got up and went to tour again. We saw Changing of the Guards at the Palace and went to Hyde Park, Covent Market, Picadilly Circus, and Oxford Street. At Hyde Park, I saw the Peter Pan Statue, which has been another dream of mine. So yay. I travled and did 2 things on my to do list for my life.
Monday morning we got up super early to catch our 6:30 am flight to Dublin. Well our train was late and we ended up missing our flight. We had to pay 71 euros to get on the next one. Luckly we did not miss that one and we arrived in Dublin safely. All went well there. We napped and then walked around the city. There is not that much to do in Dublin and next time I go to Ireland, I want to go to the countryside. Dublin reminded me a lot of the USA but that could be because there were so many Americans there for St Patrick's Day. Anyway, that day we went to the Guiness Storehouse. That was cool and fun. We got to pull our own pint of Guiness for free and drink it for free. Of course I didn't drink the whole think since it was so digusting. Haha. Anywway after that we went back to the hostel for a nap because it was about 8pm. We ended up falling asleep and never getting up because we were so tired. We slept in until 10 am on Tuesday.
We went into town for St Patrick's Day. We watched the parade, which was really cool, and then went to St Patricks Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral. A lot was closed because of the "holiday". There was so many people there. The streets were just crowded. It was a good time though. We went back to the hostel and got ready to enjoy the night out on St Patrick's Day. I know everyone will be sad when I say this but, I didn't get drunk. We drink just not enough to get drunk. We met some IRish boys and talked to them for awhile and then went back to get some sleep. We arrived at the airport early and did not miss our flight. We arrived safely in Valencia.
Now as I have talked about, this is the week of Las Fallas here. The huge festival were they have floats just all over the streets and at the end they burn them. The city population goes from 800,000 to 3 million. Anyway so last night I went out with Kaitlyn and we watched the fireworks. Today was the last day and they burned them. The streets were so crazy last night and there are so many people. It is not as cool as I thought it would be.
Today I layed out in the sun for about 2 hours because it was 74 and then went and saw Marley and Me in spanish with Kaitlyn and her host mom. It was nice. I have a lot of homework to finish before I have to go back to school on monday. I guess I forgot to mention that my host parents are on vacation right now so my host sister has been cooking for me. I feel bad but oh well. Other than that not much is new. London is the best place I have ever been in my life.
I will write soon. Let me know if you have any questions about my trips.
Love you
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Hola Hola Hola!!!
Hello!
So it's Wednesday. Yay. I leave Friday for London and I am so excited. I can hardly wait. Anyway so school has been going well this week. I had a quiz today in phonetics and I finally did well on it. Yay for me. Maybe I won't fail after all. Then I have a quiz in conversation and that went well too. Friday we have classes but I am missing one because of my flight. But we are allowed to miss two, so it'll be okay. Other than that next week we have no school because of Las Fallas. I will get back on Wednesday and then the night of Thursday is when then burn all the floats. So I will still be around for enough of it. Then the weekend, I will just stay in Valencia and do homework. We have to start reading a book for Literature Analysis and do a paper. I also have to work on papers for my composition class. So hopefully I can get it all done. None of my other class have homework. But for these two classes, I have the same professor. I guess she wants us to have homework.
So in London we have a lot of things planned to see. I hope that we can see them all. And I will make sure that I get a picture of me at Platform 9 3/4 :). Harry Potter dork all the way. Then in Dublin we have things to do and can hopefully go to the countryside. I am really excited that I am doing so much traveling and that I still have more traveling to do. It's wonderful. I am totally going to be broke when I come home, but thats okay.
I am staying at MSU this summer. I will take some classes and live at the house I am living at next fall. It's sad that I am leaving Lapeer but you know, I am already living in Europe, so I suppose it will all be okay. I don't think I have told everyone so, I offically got accepted to the MSU College of Education. YAY. My life plan is working. I am still undecided about a second major in Spanish, anyone have any ideas or thoughts on this matter?
Well in other news, I have been talking to Serge, my Belgium friend a lot. We talk almost everyday. He is coming to visit me in April it appears. Right after my sister is here. So we shall see what happens with that...
Well I will write when I come back from London/Dublin. Be prepared to see many photos.
Love you all
So it's Wednesday. Yay. I leave Friday for London and I am so excited. I can hardly wait. Anyway so school has been going well this week. I had a quiz today in phonetics and I finally did well on it. Yay for me. Maybe I won't fail after all. Then I have a quiz in conversation and that went well too. Friday we have classes but I am missing one because of my flight. But we are allowed to miss two, so it'll be okay. Other than that next week we have no school because of Las Fallas. I will get back on Wednesday and then the night of Thursday is when then burn all the floats. So I will still be around for enough of it. Then the weekend, I will just stay in Valencia and do homework. We have to start reading a book for Literature Analysis and do a paper. I also have to work on papers for my composition class. So hopefully I can get it all done. None of my other class have homework. But for these two classes, I have the same professor. I guess she wants us to have homework.
So in London we have a lot of things planned to see. I hope that we can see them all. And I will make sure that I get a picture of me at Platform 9 3/4 :). Harry Potter dork all the way. Then in Dublin we have things to do and can hopefully go to the countryside. I am really excited that I am doing so much traveling and that I still have more traveling to do. It's wonderful. I am totally going to be broke when I come home, but thats okay.
I am staying at MSU this summer. I will take some classes and live at the house I am living at next fall. It's sad that I am leaving Lapeer but you know, I am already living in Europe, so I suppose it will all be okay. I don't think I have told everyone so, I offically got accepted to the MSU College of Education. YAY. My life plan is working. I am still undecided about a second major in Spanish, anyone have any ideas or thoughts on this matter?
Well in other news, I have been talking to Serge, my Belgium friend a lot. We talk almost everyday. He is coming to visit me in April it appears. Right after my sister is here. So we shall see what happens with that...
Well I will write when I come back from London/Dublin. Be prepared to see many photos.
Love you all
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Viernes y Sabado
Hola a todos!
So my weekend was very busy. Friday we had school...which was a bummber. But classes went well and then we had a movie at night. It was called Dia de Nostalgia. I stayed around the school until the movie. The ten of us that went to Sevilla, went to this bar, Dick Tracy's, and got drinks. I had two and am pretty sure most of us went to the movie partly drunk. We watched De Boda en Boda (Wedding Crashers) in Spainsh with Spanish subtitles and after we had pizza and pop. It was fun and I enjoyed watching an American movie, even though it was in Spanish. It is a lot easier to understand the Spanish when you can read the words as well. It helps a lot. After the movie, I went home to my house and took a shower. I was just going to stay in and was watching LOST online.
Jana called me and said that Adam's friend was here from London and they wanted us to go out with them. So after about 10 minutes of changing our minds three times, we went out. It was fun but it was really late by the time we decided to go out. We didn't leave our houses until midnight. Just late for us Americans, not the Spanish. Anyway so we met up with the boys by our school and went to a bar. Then we went to Botellon, which is this huge Spanish drinking party in the park. That was fun but it was pretty windy so there weren't as many people as usual. I didn't drink because it was too late to buy wine at the store. But I still had a good time. I talked a lot of Spanish to the people we met. We were going to go to a discoteca, Mya, in the part of the city that is called La ciudad de artes y ciencas (City of arts and sciences). Its a gorgeous part of the city and very new designs. But it was already 430 am and the discoteca cost 15 euros so we didn't want to go in since it was so late. We would rather pay that money to go in at an earlier hour. So then Jana and I were just outside talking to the boys we were with and that was fun. Then we just went home.
Saturday I wokeup around 10am, so I didn't get much sleep. My host mom and I looked over a paper I am writing for one of my classes. Then I went to the beach with Kaitlyn and Jana. It was beautiful and we layed out. The sun was so warm. It was about 75 yesterday. The sea was chilly but not colder than the great lakes. My feet didn't go num as soon as I touched the water. It was nice. After the beach, we went to a bull fight. We had bought tickets earlier in the morning. It was a good experience to experience something that is so normal for Spanish culture. I am not exactly sure that I would want to go to another one. I took a lot of pictures and even some videos. They kill the bull in the stadium and then horses come out and carry it out. They always show 3 in one day. We were leaving after the thrid one and came across where they take the bulls after they leave the ring. We saw them cleaning the blood off and then...cutting off the head and legs. We were like terrified and there was some Spanish men behind us, basically laughing at us for being grossed out. Anyway so that was a good experience and interesting to watch. I am glad that I did it because it is part of their culture. My host mom has never gone to one though. She hates them.
After the bull fight, we went back to our houses. I showered because I had sand all over me and then I had dinner. We had pumpkin soup and these other things we eat a lot. The pumpkin soup was so good, I was really surprised. I didn't think I would like it. I spend the night just working on homework and doing my presentation for conversation.
Today, Sunday, I am just doing homework. I finished my presentation and am now doing my phonetics homework because she gave us a lot to do this weekend. I am having issues with my eyes. I am not sure if I have pink eye or if my eye is just irritated. But my host mom gave me some drops so hopefully that helps and clears it up. Friday I leave for London and am super excited!!! :) I have my phonetics and conversation presentation tomorrow, so hopefully those go well.
Well off to do more homework!
So my weekend was very busy. Friday we had school...which was a bummber. But classes went well and then we had a movie at night. It was called Dia de Nostalgia. I stayed around the school until the movie. The ten of us that went to Sevilla, went to this bar, Dick Tracy's, and got drinks. I had two and am pretty sure most of us went to the movie partly drunk. We watched De Boda en Boda (Wedding Crashers) in Spainsh with Spanish subtitles and after we had pizza and pop. It was fun and I enjoyed watching an American movie, even though it was in Spanish. It is a lot easier to understand the Spanish when you can read the words as well. It helps a lot. After the movie, I went home to my house and took a shower. I was just going to stay in and was watching LOST online.
Jana called me and said that Adam's friend was here from London and they wanted us to go out with them. So after about 10 minutes of changing our minds three times, we went out. It was fun but it was really late by the time we decided to go out. We didn't leave our houses until midnight. Just late for us Americans, not the Spanish. Anyway so we met up with the boys by our school and went to a bar. Then we went to Botellon, which is this huge Spanish drinking party in the park. That was fun but it was pretty windy so there weren't as many people as usual. I didn't drink because it was too late to buy wine at the store. But I still had a good time. I talked a lot of Spanish to the people we met. We were going to go to a discoteca, Mya, in the part of the city that is called La ciudad de artes y ciencas (City of arts and sciences). Its a gorgeous part of the city and very new designs. But it was already 430 am and the discoteca cost 15 euros so we didn't want to go in since it was so late. We would rather pay that money to go in at an earlier hour. So then Jana and I were just outside talking to the boys we were with and that was fun. Then we just went home.
Saturday I wokeup around 10am, so I didn't get much sleep. My host mom and I looked over a paper I am writing for one of my classes. Then I went to the beach with Kaitlyn and Jana. It was beautiful and we layed out. The sun was so warm. It was about 75 yesterday. The sea was chilly but not colder than the great lakes. My feet didn't go num as soon as I touched the water. It was nice. After the beach, we went to a bull fight. We had bought tickets earlier in the morning. It was a good experience to experience something that is so normal for Spanish culture. I am not exactly sure that I would want to go to another one. I took a lot of pictures and even some videos. They kill the bull in the stadium and then horses come out and carry it out. They always show 3 in one day. We were leaving after the thrid one and came across where they take the bulls after they leave the ring. We saw them cleaning the blood off and then...cutting off the head and legs. We were like terrified and there was some Spanish men behind us, basically laughing at us for being grossed out. Anyway so that was a good experience and interesting to watch. I am glad that I did it because it is part of their culture. My host mom has never gone to one though. She hates them.
After the bull fight, we went back to our houses. I showered because I had sand all over me and then I had dinner. We had pumpkin soup and these other things we eat a lot. The pumpkin soup was so good, I was really surprised. I didn't think I would like it. I spend the night just working on homework and doing my presentation for conversation.
Today, Sunday, I am just doing homework. I finished my presentation and am now doing my phonetics homework because she gave us a lot to do this weekend. I am having issues with my eyes. I am not sure if I have pink eye or if my eye is just irritated. But my host mom gave me some drops so hopefully that helps and clears it up. Friday I leave for London and am super excited!!! :) I have my phonetics and conversation presentation tomorrow, so hopefully those go well.
Well off to do more homework!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Nada importante
Well this week sucks. I did horrible on my phonetics midterm and I have had a lot of homework. I am just trying to stay ahead of the game and not get sucked into being sad and wishing I was back taking other classes besides Spanish ones.
Nothing really exciting has happened this week. But I realized I haven't really took any time to write about random things here or my friends here or anything.
So we will start with things I have learned about Spanish and Spain since I have been here:
1. Vale Vale Vale!!! Means okay, its a Spanish expression that no one ever learns in school and when we first got here all of us had no idea what it means but now I use it all the time and can't believe there was a time when I didn't understand what it meant.
2. Si si si si si X100....Si obvisuly means yes. Which I knew. But here, man they use it all the time. On the phone, si si si si, like yes yes yes yes, I understand you. Or yes I want to a lot. It just gets annoying after awhile because there is another word they could use besides si si si all the time.
3. Spain loves the vostros form which ever since the time I have been learning Spanish, my professors have always told me that it was not important and that I shouldn't brother learning it because I would never use it. Well how wrong were they because here I am, in Spain, and don't really know how to use this dumb vosotros form of talking. Dumb teachers.
4. You can wear whatever you want in Spain and no one cares. You won't get funny looks walking to class, when in Spain, anything goes. It is kinda cool. A different since of style and I have deffinatly become more stylish since I have been here.
5. They eat bread like carbs do not matter at all. I love carbs...so I love it here. Bread on the table every night, just to take and eat. I am going to miss that.
6. Paella is the best food on the planet. You can make pallea with anything, chicken, seafood or just veggies. It's a rice dish and my madre makes the best with rice, chicken and green beans. I love it.
7. No one has houses here. Basically everything is apartments unless you live in a pueblo (small town outside the big city).
8. I always knew that they eat dinner later than us in the US but it was really hard for me to adjust at first. Now it is pretty easy and I am scared when I go home, I won't like eating early.
Now onto my friends here,
So I have made friends, while most of them are from the lovely and awesome Green and White...some are from Virginia and other states. It is going to be sad leaving them at the end of this (but I am excited to get back to my friends from home). Anyway Jana and Kaitlyn are from MSU and we all live by each other so we hangout a lot. Sometimes I feel like a thrid wheel though because they are a bit older than me. They are funny and random so they remind me a lot of my friends from home. Then there are 2 Sarah's that I get along with really well that are always from MSU. Both of them are shy but really funny and I love them. Krystin is from UofR and I love her. We are going to London/Dublin together soon. Melissa is from UVA and she is the one I went to Mallorca with. She is smart and nice and shy as well. We get along really well. Anyway then I have Becky and she is from MSU. She is really nice but shy as well. I really like them all and I get along with them all well. I just usually hangout with Jana and Kaitlyn most because we have a lot of classes together and live by each other. I have guy friends too but usually I just talk to David the most. He is also from MSU. He is really funny and we when go out together and are drunk we have the best conversations haha. Anyway...
Well I guess thats it. This weekend I am just staying in Valencia and catching up on my homework...
LOVE YOU
Nothing really exciting has happened this week. But I realized I haven't really took any time to write about random things here or my friends here or anything.
So we will start with things I have learned about Spanish and Spain since I have been here:
1. Vale Vale Vale!!! Means okay, its a Spanish expression that no one ever learns in school and when we first got here all of us had no idea what it means but now I use it all the time and can't believe there was a time when I didn't understand what it meant.
2. Si si si si si X100....Si obvisuly means yes. Which I knew. But here, man they use it all the time. On the phone, si si si si, like yes yes yes yes, I understand you. Or yes I want to a lot. It just gets annoying after awhile because there is another word they could use besides si si si all the time.
3. Spain loves the vostros form which ever since the time I have been learning Spanish, my professors have always told me that it was not important and that I shouldn't brother learning it because I would never use it. Well how wrong were they because here I am, in Spain, and don't really know how to use this dumb vosotros form of talking. Dumb teachers.
4. You can wear whatever you want in Spain and no one cares. You won't get funny looks walking to class, when in Spain, anything goes. It is kinda cool. A different since of style and I have deffinatly become more stylish since I have been here.
5. They eat bread like carbs do not matter at all. I love carbs...so I love it here. Bread on the table every night, just to take and eat. I am going to miss that.
6. Paella is the best food on the planet. You can make pallea with anything, chicken, seafood or just veggies. It's a rice dish and my madre makes the best with rice, chicken and green beans. I love it.
7. No one has houses here. Basically everything is apartments unless you live in a pueblo (small town outside the big city).
8. I always knew that they eat dinner later than us in the US but it was really hard for me to adjust at first. Now it is pretty easy and I am scared when I go home, I won't like eating early.
Now onto my friends here,
So I have made friends, while most of them are from the lovely and awesome Green and White...some are from Virginia and other states. It is going to be sad leaving them at the end of this (but I am excited to get back to my friends from home). Anyway Jana and Kaitlyn are from MSU and we all live by each other so we hangout a lot. Sometimes I feel like a thrid wheel though because they are a bit older than me. They are funny and random so they remind me a lot of my friends from home. Then there are 2 Sarah's that I get along with really well that are always from MSU. Both of them are shy but really funny and I love them. Krystin is from UofR and I love her. We are going to London/Dublin together soon. Melissa is from UVA and she is the one I went to Mallorca with. She is smart and nice and shy as well. We get along really well. Anyway then I have Becky and she is from MSU. She is really nice but shy as well. I really like them all and I get along with them all well. I just usually hangout with Jana and Kaitlyn most because we have a lot of classes together and live by each other. I have guy friends too but usually I just talk to David the most. He is also from MSU. He is really funny and we when go out together and are drunk we have the best conversations haha. Anyway...
Well I guess thats it. This weekend I am just staying in Valencia and catching up on my homework...
LOVE YOU
Monday, March 2, 2009
Madrid
Hola!!!
Sorry I have been so lazy at writing in this lately. There are just a million and one things to do with my life.
So over the weekend I went to Madrid. It was tons of fun. The city is huge and there was always tons of people around. We got there really early on Friday and took a bus tour around. We stopped at the Plaza Mayor, this huge square with tons of shops and businesses. There were so many people there, it was really cool. We also went to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace), no one lives there anymore. It is huge. We couldn't take pictures but I bought a book on it and some postcards so that I have pictures. After the bus tour we just walked around and went to some open air art musuems. They had statues of cows on display all over the city and they are there until the end of March. They were so cool and I liked taking pictures of them. We went to dinner at the Hardrock Cafe and it was so nice to have ranch dressing again because they don't have that here normally. We went back to our hostel to take a nap so we could go out, we went to bed at 930 and set an alarm for 1030, however, none of us woke up and we ended up sleeping until 930 the next day. It was nice to get that much sleep, we all felt like grandmas for not going out...but it was okay.
Saturday we woke up and went to musuems. We went to the Prado...this huge art musuem and were there for about 3 hours. You could seriously spend a whole day there. We also went to the Natural Science Musuem and did some tourist shopping. The weather was nice and I really enjoyed my time there. Everyone that comes to Spain has to go to Madrid since it is the capital and all.
Other things going on are not much. I have a lot of school work but thats about it. This weekend I am staying in Valencia and I am pretty excited because I feel like I haven't been around a lot lately. I haven't got any of my midterms back yet but hopefully I did well.
Last week I met with my intercambio again. I went to her apartment with her. She is so nice. I met her boyfriend and some of her friends. It was fun and I really like speaking Spanish with him because it is probably what helps the most.
This is my 7th week in Spain and it has gone by so fast. Its weird but in ways I thought my experience was going to be a lot different. My Spanish has not really improved as much as I thought it would, it has improved just not like I thought it would. I like the city and enjoy my life here, but I could never live here. I miss a lot about the US, especially ranch dressing.
My food has been good lately. Nothing interesting. Tonight we had fish and some soup of chicken. It was good. Sunday night we had omletes and they were yummy. I enjoy all my food so thats good.
I am looking forward to go to London and Dublin in the next week or so. It'll be a great experience and hopefully fun. Although it is a lot colder there then it is here. I am not looking forward to that.
Well time to do some tarea!
Love you
Sorry I have been so lazy at writing in this lately. There are just a million and one things to do with my life.
So over the weekend I went to Madrid. It was tons of fun. The city is huge and there was always tons of people around. We got there really early on Friday and took a bus tour around. We stopped at the Plaza Mayor, this huge square with tons of shops and businesses. There were so many people there, it was really cool. We also went to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace), no one lives there anymore. It is huge. We couldn't take pictures but I bought a book on it and some postcards so that I have pictures. After the bus tour we just walked around and went to some open air art musuems. They had statues of cows on display all over the city and they are there until the end of March. They were so cool and I liked taking pictures of them. We went to dinner at the Hardrock Cafe and it was so nice to have ranch dressing again because they don't have that here normally. We went back to our hostel to take a nap so we could go out, we went to bed at 930 and set an alarm for 1030, however, none of us woke up and we ended up sleeping until 930 the next day. It was nice to get that much sleep, we all felt like grandmas for not going out...but it was okay.
Saturday we woke up and went to musuems. We went to the Prado...this huge art musuem and were there for about 3 hours. You could seriously spend a whole day there. We also went to the Natural Science Musuem and did some tourist shopping. The weather was nice and I really enjoyed my time there. Everyone that comes to Spain has to go to Madrid since it is the capital and all.
Other things going on are not much. I have a lot of school work but thats about it. This weekend I am staying in Valencia and I am pretty excited because I feel like I haven't been around a lot lately. I haven't got any of my midterms back yet but hopefully I did well.
Last week I met with my intercambio again. I went to her apartment with her. She is so nice. I met her boyfriend and some of her friends. It was fun and I really like speaking Spanish with him because it is probably what helps the most.
This is my 7th week in Spain and it has gone by so fast. Its weird but in ways I thought my experience was going to be a lot different. My Spanish has not really improved as much as I thought it would, it has improved just not like I thought it would. I like the city and enjoy my life here, but I could never live here. I miss a lot about the US, especially ranch dressing.
My food has been good lately. Nothing interesting. Tonight we had fish and some soup of chicken. It was good. Sunday night we had omletes and they were yummy. I enjoy all my food so thats good.
I am looking forward to go to London and Dublin in the next week or so. It'll be a great experience and hopefully fun. Although it is a lot colder there then it is here. I am not looking forward to that.
Well time to do some tarea!
Love you
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Mallorca and a few other things
Sorry it has taken me so long to write this but I had been busy studying for midterms when I got back.
Anyway so Thursday night, I left for Mallorca. When we got there, Melissa and I checked into the hotel and then went out to the bar. Our hotel was really nice and was in the "german" part of town. Apparently there are a lot of Germans that go to Mallorca. Anyway so we out to a german bar called "beir king" or something like that and we split a litter of Sangrid. They gave us huge straws and it was fun. They played like old american music, bryan adams and stuff like that it was fun. That night we met a bunch of cyclers from Belgium that were in Mallorca until Saturday for training. One of them, Serge, and I hit it off well. We hung out with the boys until about 4 am.
Friday morning we woke up and Melissa and I rode a bus into the center of town and took a turistic double-decker bus around. It was fun and we saw a lot of stuff. The island is so pretty and the sun was out all day so that was nice. That night we went out to dinner with the cycling boys and after we went back to the same bar. It was fun and we had a good time with them and getting to know them. Serge got my number and my number in the USA and my email.
Saturday the boys had left and Melissa and I rented bikes and rode them around. It was about 7 miles into town but the bike trail was really cool so we saw a lot of beautiful things. It was wonderful. Everything is so pretty and the beaches and the sea are so beautiful. That night we went out for dinner and then to another bar but we went home early because we were really tired.
Sunday we came home and I began to study for my midterms that I have this week. I just took my phonetics one, which of course was hard. Dumb class. Then I have my converstation one later today and tomorrow my compoistion quiz. Also, today I am meeting with my intercambio again so I am excited for that :)
This weekend I am going to Madrid. Krystin and I booked tickets for London and Dublin yesterday. We are going to go there in March at the beginning of Las Fallas which is a huge festival in Valencia. We will be home for the end of it though.
Other than that not much is new. My host family and I are getting a long well and I haven't had anything weird for dinner which is nice. Still things that I like. She is a good cook. I talked to Serge last night because he called me and we have a "date" to talk online Thursday night. I am sure that this will not go anywhere since he lives in Belgium but we will see because he was talking about wanting to visit Spain before I left and then coming to the USA in the summer or something.
Well I will try to write about Madrid right when I get back on Sunday. Sorry to keep everyone waiting. LOVE YOU
Anyway so Thursday night, I left for Mallorca. When we got there, Melissa and I checked into the hotel and then went out to the bar. Our hotel was really nice and was in the "german" part of town. Apparently there are a lot of Germans that go to Mallorca. Anyway so we out to a german bar called "beir king" or something like that and we split a litter of Sangrid. They gave us huge straws and it was fun. They played like old american music, bryan adams and stuff like that it was fun. That night we met a bunch of cyclers from Belgium that were in Mallorca until Saturday for training. One of them, Serge, and I hit it off well. We hung out with the boys until about 4 am.
Friday morning we woke up and Melissa and I rode a bus into the center of town and took a turistic double-decker bus around. It was fun and we saw a lot of stuff. The island is so pretty and the sun was out all day so that was nice. That night we went out to dinner with the cycling boys and after we went back to the same bar. It was fun and we had a good time with them and getting to know them. Serge got my number and my number in the USA and my email.
Saturday the boys had left and Melissa and I rented bikes and rode them around. It was about 7 miles into town but the bike trail was really cool so we saw a lot of beautiful things. It was wonderful. Everything is so pretty and the beaches and the sea are so beautiful. That night we went out for dinner and then to another bar but we went home early because we were really tired.
Sunday we came home and I began to study for my midterms that I have this week. I just took my phonetics one, which of course was hard. Dumb class. Then I have my converstation one later today and tomorrow my compoistion quiz. Also, today I am meeting with my intercambio again so I am excited for that :)
This weekend I am going to Madrid. Krystin and I booked tickets for London and Dublin yesterday. We are going to go there in March at the beginning of Las Fallas which is a huge festival in Valencia. We will be home for the end of it though.
Other than that not much is new. My host family and I are getting a long well and I haven't had anything weird for dinner which is nice. Still things that I like. She is a good cook. I talked to Serge last night because he called me and we have a "date" to talk online Thursday night. I am sure that this will not go anywhere since he lives in Belgium but we will see because he was talking about wanting to visit Spain before I left and then coming to the USA in the summer or something.
Well I will try to write about Madrid right when I get back on Sunday. Sorry to keep everyone waiting. LOVE YOU
Monday, February 16, 2009
Mi intercambio y otras cosas
First off, last night my madre made PANCAKES!!! They were delicious! Here they put chocolate all over them and then whip cream. Obvisouly I could not use chocolate since I have an allegry and it was a little sad but I just used syrup and butter. I enjoyed them a lot. It was nice. Other than that last night I just did homework. My sinus issues are feeling a lot better than last week so hopefully I am slowly getting better.
Today was a great day at school. Not really because I never like school but nothing went wrong or anything. I have a quiz in phonetics Wednesday and I feel as though I understand this stuff more than the stuff our last quiz was on. I did not watch the movie tonight because I had a lot of homework to do. I have a rough draft of my paper due tomorrow so I have been working on that. Plus I have a lot of homework.
Today after my classes were over, I met with my intercambio. The girl that I met up with that is Spanish and speaks English. We alternate our time between both languages in order for both of us to pratice. However, Carla, does not like to speak English because she is embrassed. She thinks her English is really bad and I tell her that I feel the same way with my Spanish. However she keeps complimenting me on my Spanish and how well I speak and can understand so thats a good sign. Its better for me if we speak in all Spanish because I can learn more but I want her to feel comfortable using English. So we will work on that. We just went to Calle Colon and then a restaurant and had ice cream. I bought a pair of black boots today. I need to stop shopping but I love it. I will stop it soon though if I want to come home with money.
Not much else is new. I really like Carla so I am really excited to spend more time with her and have an actual Spanish friend.
LOVE YOU
Today was a great day at school. Not really because I never like school but nothing went wrong or anything. I have a quiz in phonetics Wednesday and I feel as though I understand this stuff more than the stuff our last quiz was on. I did not watch the movie tonight because I had a lot of homework to do. I have a rough draft of my paper due tomorrow so I have been working on that. Plus I have a lot of homework.
Today after my classes were over, I met with my intercambio. The girl that I met up with that is Spanish and speaks English. We alternate our time between both languages in order for both of us to pratice. However, Carla, does not like to speak English because she is embrassed. She thinks her English is really bad and I tell her that I feel the same way with my Spanish. However she keeps complimenting me on my Spanish and how well I speak and can understand so thats a good sign. Its better for me if we speak in all Spanish because I can learn more but I want her to feel comfortable using English. So we will work on that. We just went to Calle Colon and then a restaurant and had ice cream. I bought a pair of black boots today. I need to stop shopping but I love it. I will stop it soon though if I want to come home with money.
Not much else is new. I really like Carla so I am really excited to spend more time with her and have an actual Spanish friend.
LOVE YOU
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Mi dificil fin de semana
Well Friday was a long day of class. We had a quiz in Literary Analysis, I feel pretty good about that so hopefully I did well. After class I went shopping with Jana and Kaitlyn and I bought a shirt for 3euros and another dress for 10euros. I love rebajas (sales). Friday night I stayed in because we had our school trip on Saturday morning at 10am.
Saturday we went to Xativa. Its a pueblo (small town) outside of Valencia. There are musuems, churchs, and a Castle. We went into the church and the musuem. In order to get to the Castle, you have to hike up a huge hill. We did that. The weather was amazing. It was sunny and probably close if not above 70. We were all so hot because we thought that it was going to be cold there. It was nice. I made a new friend on the trip, Melissa, who actually lives by me so that was really nice. After the trip, Jana, Kaitlyn, Melissa and I went to an American Restuarant called "Hollywood". I order chicken fingers and french fries. The fries were good and the chicken fingers weren't bad they just went like the ones I love from Red Robin. It made me sad but it was exciting to eat American food. After that I called my sister and it was really good to hear her voice.
I was going to go out last night for Valentines day but I ended up not going. I had a bit of a rough day because I am still a little sick with sinus's and I was feeling pretty homesick. I really wanted a hug from my parents yesterday and wanted to see my friends. I was just feeling down about not having that certain person I connect with here, like a best friend. I cried too last night which was the first time thats happened since I first got here. But it's okay. I am doing better today and sometimes you just need a good cry.
Today I went and walked around with Melissa, the new friend I made, and then after lunch we hungout again and walked around some more. I also did some homework and watched part of 7 prouds in Spanish which I was confused about because it's not on DVD yet. But oh well. We also booked tickets for this coming weekend since we don't have school friday. We are going to Mallorca. It's an island to the east of Valencia. I am so excited. My host family loves it there and it's beautiful.
This week I have a quiz in phonetics. I am also meeting my intercambio tomorrow, Carla, I am really excited to meet her. Other than that nothing new. Mallorca for the weekend. I am really excited.
Love you
Saturday we went to Xativa. Its a pueblo (small town) outside of Valencia. There are musuems, churchs, and a Castle. We went into the church and the musuem. In order to get to the Castle, you have to hike up a huge hill. We did that. The weather was amazing. It was sunny and probably close if not above 70. We were all so hot because we thought that it was going to be cold there. It was nice. I made a new friend on the trip, Melissa, who actually lives by me so that was really nice. After the trip, Jana, Kaitlyn, Melissa and I went to an American Restuarant called "Hollywood". I order chicken fingers and french fries. The fries were good and the chicken fingers weren't bad they just went like the ones I love from Red Robin. It made me sad but it was exciting to eat American food. After that I called my sister and it was really good to hear her voice.
I was going to go out last night for Valentines day but I ended up not going. I had a bit of a rough day because I am still a little sick with sinus's and I was feeling pretty homesick. I really wanted a hug from my parents yesterday and wanted to see my friends. I was just feeling down about not having that certain person I connect with here, like a best friend. I cried too last night which was the first time thats happened since I first got here. But it's okay. I am doing better today and sometimes you just need a good cry.
Today I went and walked around with Melissa, the new friend I made, and then after lunch we hungout again and walked around some more. I also did some homework and watched part of 7 prouds in Spanish which I was confused about because it's not on DVD yet. But oh well. We also booked tickets for this coming weekend since we don't have school friday. We are going to Mallorca. It's an island to the east of Valencia. I am so excited. My host family loves it there and it's beautiful.
This week I have a quiz in phonetics. I am also meeting my intercambio tomorrow, Carla, I am really excited to meet her. Other than that nothing new. Mallorca for the weekend. I am really excited.
Love you
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Jueves
Well Sunday all I did was homework, nothing out of the usual. School has been going well this week. I'm sick of it just because its school and it seems as though I can never get motivated enough here to do a lot for it. Which makes sense because it is a foreign language, country and even home. But oh well. We have school tomorrow and then Saturday, Valentines Day, we have an excursion to Xativa which is a city close to Valencia. I'm sure we'll probably go out to celebrate but I am feeling a tad sick.
Yesterday my throat hurt a lot so I talked to my mom in the US and she told me to gurgle salt water. I did it twice and when I woke up this morning I felt a bit better. So I did it again this morning and will do it again when I get home from school and before I go to bed. I have Amoxicillian here from my doctor in the US and was going to take it but then I started feeling better. Hopefully I don't need to result in taking it.
Other than that not much is new, I bought a new scarf, a purple one. I have a feeling that I am going to have a lot of those fine I come home. I bought the tickets for when Sarah comes during my spring break as well. It was very exciting. I am looking forward to it so much. I wish my parents could come visit as well though.
The food has been good and nothing as really been new. Last night she made squid and figured I wouldn't like it so she made me a chicken breast with corn and carrots. Apparently they don't eat corn very much here so I feel a little bad. She also asked if I liked peanut butter and seemed a little stun when I told her I didn't. She was like but ALL americans like peanut butter. Well not me...haha.
Miss you! I'll write soon. Love you
Yesterday my throat hurt a lot so I talked to my mom in the US and she told me to gurgle salt water. I did it twice and when I woke up this morning I felt a bit better. So I did it again this morning and will do it again when I get home from school and before I go to bed. I have Amoxicillian here from my doctor in the US and was going to take it but then I started feeling better. Hopefully I don't need to result in taking it.
Other than that not much is new, I bought a new scarf, a purple one. I have a feeling that I am going to have a lot of those fine I come home. I bought the tickets for when Sarah comes during my spring break as well. It was very exciting. I am looking forward to it so much. I wish my parents could come visit as well though.
The food has been good and nothing as really been new. Last night she made squid and figured I wouldn't like it so she made me a chicken breast with corn and carrots. Apparently they don't eat corn very much here so I feel a little bad. She also asked if I liked peanut butter and seemed a little stun when I told her I didn't. She was like but ALL americans like peanut butter. Well not me...haha.
Miss you! I'll write soon. Love you
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Hmm...
Hmm..where to begin.
Thursday was our last day of school for the week. School went well and I had two pop quizzes but did just fine. Thursday night I just hung around my house and talked with my family and played with my little brother. Friday we didn't have school and went to Cuidad Fallera. A musuem about Las Fallas. Las Fallas is a HUGE festival in Valencia that takes place every year in March. It lasts for a week and basically the Fallas are just huge floats and at the end they are all burned. We watched a movie that explained how they were made and basically they are just gignatic natural wood statues painted. We saw some models of them and they were pretty cool. After that I went with Jana and Kaitlyn to Calle Colon (the road with all the stores) and we just walked around. I bought a few more postcards and that was it.
Friday night was awesome. My host familia went out with some friends so she made me dinner and then put it on the table for me to eat whenever I wanted. I had broccoli soup and chicken and susage. It was yummy. They were gone so I had the house to myself to get ready. I met some friends at a park by my house that has ruins in it. We were hanging out there and Jana, Kaitlyn and I split 2 bottles of wine. Wine is super cheap here..like 1 euro. Anyway so we were all just hanging around and talking to each other. Then we went to a bar around the corner and hungout there for probably an hour. Shots there were only 1 euro as well. That was nice. Then we decided to make our way towards the discoteca. But it was only 2:15 and still pretty early. Discotecas don't open until 2 here. So we went into the parking garage right across the street. We all just hungout in there and finished the other bottle of wine that we had. We went into the discoteca and it was amazing. I danced the night away and didn't make it home until 6:30 am which is still pretty early for them here. The discoteca had 3 floors, all with different music playing. I met a boy and danced with him all night. He only spoke Spanish so I got to pratice my skills all night. My friends were all around and we had a great time just dancing with each other. I love dancing. It was fun.
Today I wokeup around 1:15 and watched some tv online. Then Kaitlyn, Jana, and I went to see "Mal Ejemplo" which is the movie Role Models in America. It was in Spanish with no subtitles and I had not seen it in the US. But it was funny. We understand most of it and were proud of ourselves for going to see a movie in Spanish. I am not going out tonight because I am way too tired and need to do homework tomorrow. We have a full week of school this week with an excursion on Saturday, also known as Valentines day. I am excited for that.
Thats mostly all the important things. Some random things would be that I got a package from my mom. Yay. I also got a Valentines day card from my Aunt Cheryl. I love getting mail here. Its so excited and fun. I'm not doing anything fun tomorrow besides homework and probably reading.
Buenas Noches!!
Thursday was our last day of school for the week. School went well and I had two pop quizzes but did just fine. Thursday night I just hung around my house and talked with my family and played with my little brother. Friday we didn't have school and went to Cuidad Fallera. A musuem about Las Fallas. Las Fallas is a HUGE festival in Valencia that takes place every year in March. It lasts for a week and basically the Fallas are just huge floats and at the end they are all burned. We watched a movie that explained how they were made and basically they are just gignatic natural wood statues painted. We saw some models of them and they were pretty cool. After that I went with Jana and Kaitlyn to Calle Colon (the road with all the stores) and we just walked around. I bought a few more postcards and that was it.
Friday night was awesome. My host familia went out with some friends so she made me dinner and then put it on the table for me to eat whenever I wanted. I had broccoli soup and chicken and susage. It was yummy. They were gone so I had the house to myself to get ready. I met some friends at a park by my house that has ruins in it. We were hanging out there and Jana, Kaitlyn and I split 2 bottles of wine. Wine is super cheap here..like 1 euro. Anyway so we were all just hanging around and talking to each other. Then we went to a bar around the corner and hungout there for probably an hour. Shots there were only 1 euro as well. That was nice. Then we decided to make our way towards the discoteca. But it was only 2:15 and still pretty early. Discotecas don't open until 2 here. So we went into the parking garage right across the street. We all just hungout in there and finished the other bottle of wine that we had. We went into the discoteca and it was amazing. I danced the night away and didn't make it home until 6:30 am which is still pretty early for them here. The discoteca had 3 floors, all with different music playing. I met a boy and danced with him all night. He only spoke Spanish so I got to pratice my skills all night. My friends were all around and we had a great time just dancing with each other. I love dancing. It was fun.
Today I wokeup around 1:15 and watched some tv online. Then Kaitlyn, Jana, and I went to see "Mal Ejemplo" which is the movie Role Models in America. It was in Spanish with no subtitles and I had not seen it in the US. But it was funny. We understand most of it and were proud of ourselves for going to see a movie in Spanish. I am not going out tonight because I am way too tired and need to do homework tomorrow. We have a full week of school this week with an excursion on Saturday, also known as Valentines day. I am excited for that.
Thats mostly all the important things. Some random things would be that I got a package from my mom. Yay. I also got a Valentines day card from my Aunt Cheryl. I love getting mail here. Its so excited and fun. I'm not doing anything fun tomorrow besides homework and probably reading.
Buenas Noches!!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Over the hump
So again not much is new. Classes are still going well and the weather has been wonderful. Monday night at school we watched a movie and it was a little hard to understand but it was funny. Next Monday we are watching a movie with English subtitles. So I am really excited about that and so is everyone else. I haven't had anything exciting or new to eat lately. But last night mi madre made me mashed potatoes. I was so excited because they are my favorite. They were yummy, not as good as my moms at home but good.
After school yesterday and today I went shopping. I love all the stores here. I bought a new pair of skinny jeans, a scarf, a tshirt to go out in, a dress that i love, and brown short boots. The style over here is so amazing and sorta weird at the same time. People wear tights with shorts and things like that. Not even just black tights but like neon pink tights with shorts. Its kinda cool but I don't know if I'll be brave enough to try it. There are just so many things that are different over here with everyone. It's so cool to enjoy another culture. As you've probably guessed, I am way more comfortable being here now. I still miss everyone and love everyone but I am finally ready to be over the hump and to enjoy what experience I am going to have here and see new things and be opened to new things. I just want to forget that I am away from home and pretend as though it'll be tomorrow when I get to see everyone's smiling faces again.
I am going to Madrid with some friends the weekend of the 27th. It's right after our midterms. I am not looking forward to those. Oh well. Well Adios for now!!!
After school yesterday and today I went shopping. I love all the stores here. I bought a new pair of skinny jeans, a scarf, a tshirt to go out in, a dress that i love, and brown short boots. The style over here is so amazing and sorta weird at the same time. People wear tights with shorts and things like that. Not even just black tights but like neon pink tights with shorts. Its kinda cool but I don't know if I'll be brave enough to try it. There are just so many things that are different over here with everyone. It's so cool to enjoy another culture. As you've probably guessed, I am way more comfortable being here now. I still miss everyone and love everyone but I am finally ready to be over the hump and to enjoy what experience I am going to have here and see new things and be opened to new things. I just want to forget that I am away from home and pretend as though it'll be tomorrow when I get to see everyone's smiling faces again.
I am going to Madrid with some friends the weekend of the 27th. It's right after our midterms. I am not looking forward to those. Oh well. Well Adios for now!!!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunday/Monday
Yesterday all I really did was homework and read. It rained again so I didn't feel like going to walk around or anything. We had pallea for lunch yesterday which is a huge thing in Spain. It's sorta like a stirfry, it's cooked in a huge skillet on the stove. Its rice and then veggies and meat. She made it with chicken and green beans. Usually there is seafood paella, chicken paella, and pork paella. It was so delicous and I could not stop eating it. For dinner we had grilled cheese. It was yummy and she made them on a George Forman which I thought was really funny. I've been eating for fruit so that is good for me. I eat apples everyday and usually an orange or a bannana.
I am all done with class for the day. I had a vocab quiz and I got an 18/20 on it. I was pretty happy with that. I have a lot of homework to do for class tomorrow. Oh joy. I am so excited to do it. Tonight we are watching another movie at 7. Nadie es perfecto, nobody is perfect, I have no idea what it is on but I am excited to see it. I like watching the Spanish movies with spanish subtitles. It helps me understand it better.
Hopefully my intercambio calls me soon because I want to meet up with her soon.
I just wanted to make this post to basically talk about the food that I ate.
Hasta Luego!
I am all done with class for the day. I had a vocab quiz and I got an 18/20 on it. I was pretty happy with that. I have a lot of homework to do for class tomorrow. Oh joy. I am so excited to do it. Tonight we are watching another movie at 7. Nadie es perfecto, nobody is perfect, I have no idea what it is on but I am excited to see it. I like watching the Spanish movies with spanish subtitles. It helps me understand it better.
Hopefully my intercambio calls me soon because I want to meet up with her soon.
I just wanted to make this post to basically talk about the food that I ate.
Hasta Luego!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Saturday..
So not really much to write about this time but at the same time I will like there is so much to write about.
Last night, Friday, I went shopping after school. They have sales in Spain at every store from Jan 4th to Feb 28th. It's amazing. I only bought two things. Then I was home in time for dinner. We had tortilla. Its egg, cheese, and potatoe cooked and put on a sub like bread thing. Its a Spanish delicaticy. I like it a lot. I talked to Ryan on skype and it was really good to see a familiar face. I read some of my Twilight book and then went to bed. I didn't go out because I was really tired. I feel bad because the night life here is so amazing and going all the time. But I just get so tired and I am not really that big of a going outter anyway.
Today I was going to go shopping with some people but it was raining. So instead I hung around my house. I read Twilight in the living room and watched my little brother play with his toys. Then I watched Toy Story 1 and 2 in Spanish with him and read him a book. I understand parts of Toy Story but deffinatly not the whole thing. It was fun. We ate lunch, which was amazing. It was the first time I have been home for lunch actually because usually I am at school or last weekend I was gone. Lunch is the biggest meal here. We had chicken, 2 breasts for each of us, then she made a lot of veggies. But she knows I don't really like them so she made me a potato. It was so yummy. I love chicken. I also had the fresh bread with my favorite new topping, queso blanco, in english it's cream cheese.
I watched TV with my family after lunch, the Simpsons in Spanish. I went and saw Revoluntary Road with Jana and Kaitlyn. It was in English with Spanish subtitles. It was a good movie. I came home and talked to my sister on skype. It was good to see her. We finally got out travel plans finalized for when she is coming and I can't not wait. YAY. For dinner we had more veggies, so I got a potatoe again. Then at the end she brought out something that had cheese on it and was translated into raw fish for me. I tried it. I ate all that she put on my plate. It wasn't the best thing I have ever had but hey I am here to try new things. After dinner, I got to talk to some friends from MSU on skype. It was so nice to see their faces! I love skype! I get to talk to my parents tomorrow. Now I am writing this blog. So not much is new haha but yet I wrote a lot.
Tomorrow I have a lot of homework to get too and will read more Twilight I am sure. I am liking Spain overall. I miss home and people but I think I am finally over my adjusting stage. I am ready to make Spain all that it can be!
Last night, Friday, I went shopping after school. They have sales in Spain at every store from Jan 4th to Feb 28th. It's amazing. I only bought two things. Then I was home in time for dinner. We had tortilla. Its egg, cheese, and potatoe cooked and put on a sub like bread thing. Its a Spanish delicaticy. I like it a lot. I talked to Ryan on skype and it was really good to see a familiar face. I read some of my Twilight book and then went to bed. I didn't go out because I was really tired. I feel bad because the night life here is so amazing and going all the time. But I just get so tired and I am not really that big of a going outter anyway.
Today I was going to go shopping with some people but it was raining. So instead I hung around my house. I read Twilight in the living room and watched my little brother play with his toys. Then I watched Toy Story 1 and 2 in Spanish with him and read him a book. I understand parts of Toy Story but deffinatly not the whole thing. It was fun. We ate lunch, which was amazing. It was the first time I have been home for lunch actually because usually I am at school or last weekend I was gone. Lunch is the biggest meal here. We had chicken, 2 breasts for each of us, then she made a lot of veggies. But she knows I don't really like them so she made me a potato. It was so yummy. I love chicken. I also had the fresh bread with my favorite new topping, queso blanco, in english it's cream cheese.
I watched TV with my family after lunch, the Simpsons in Spanish. I went and saw Revoluntary Road with Jana and Kaitlyn. It was in English with Spanish subtitles. It was a good movie. I came home and talked to my sister on skype. It was good to see her. We finally got out travel plans finalized for when she is coming and I can't not wait. YAY. For dinner we had more veggies, so I got a potatoe again. Then at the end she brought out something that had cheese on it and was translated into raw fish for me. I tried it. I ate all that she put on my plate. It wasn't the best thing I have ever had but hey I am here to try new things. After dinner, I got to talk to some friends from MSU on skype. It was so nice to see their faces! I love skype! I get to talk to my parents tomorrow. Now I am writing this blog. So not much is new haha but yet I wrote a lot.
Tomorrow I have a lot of homework to get too and will read more Twilight I am sure. I am liking Spain overall. I miss home and people but I think I am finally over my adjusting stage. I am ready to make Spain all that it can be!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Random Things
Hola again!
Just some random things that I am going to write today so I remember them for myself.
So School this week has been good. We have class today, Friday, which switches every week. So next Friday we won't have class. Anyway my classes are going well. I have Phonetics, Compostition, Literary Anlaysis, and Converstation. My converstation class is my favorite. Phonetics is my least favorite. The stuff we have for homework is easy, just reading out of a book, but in class not only is it boring but we have to pronounce things in front of everyone. Sometimes I feel dumb when we have to do that. Oh well, everyone has issues. As long as I pass the class then I don't care. Converstation is fun. We just sit in a circle and talk. The professor, Ana, is really funny. Composition is going well. We have our first essay due tuesday, its about my life if the US. We already peer edited it and last night I had my host mom read it for me. She corrected a few grammar errors. So I think that I will do just fine in that class. Literature Analysis is going fine. We just finished our first book, Ana en el Tropico. All we really do in there is read and answer questions. Sometimes it is hard to understand some of the book but the class is still easy so thats good. I have a quiz next week in Phonetics and in Conversation. But I am sure they will go fine.
I also got an intercambio. Thats the thing I wrote about earlier where I will met with a native Spanish speaker that knows English and we will switch our time between both. The girl is 20 and also majoring in education. I am excited. Hopefully we can be friends and hangout for than just for the intercambio.
I talked to my host sister for a while yesterday. My host parents went to the opera. They showed me how to warm up my food in the microwave, I had susuage and these potatoe things with cheese inside. They were really yummy. I ate dinner with my sister and we talked. That was nice. I am deffinatly feeling more comfortable in their home day by day so hopefully by the end of this I feel even greater! I still miss my parents and friends and sister but at least I am in tune with the fact that I am here and I am enjoying my time. The weeks go by way faster here than they did while I was studying at MSU. It's kinda weird but I know that my time here will pass fast.
I'm exicted to stay the weekend in Valencia. The super bowl is Sunday and I know there is someplace to watch it but I don't know that I will. I need to ask my family if they are going to watch it and my friends from here. Anyway well I have class soon so I will talk to you guys later.
LOVE YOU!!!
Just some random things that I am going to write today so I remember them for myself.
So School this week has been good. We have class today, Friday, which switches every week. So next Friday we won't have class. Anyway my classes are going well. I have Phonetics, Compostition, Literary Anlaysis, and Converstation. My converstation class is my favorite. Phonetics is my least favorite. The stuff we have for homework is easy, just reading out of a book, but in class not only is it boring but we have to pronounce things in front of everyone. Sometimes I feel dumb when we have to do that. Oh well, everyone has issues. As long as I pass the class then I don't care. Converstation is fun. We just sit in a circle and talk. The professor, Ana, is really funny. Composition is going well. We have our first essay due tuesday, its about my life if the US. We already peer edited it and last night I had my host mom read it for me. She corrected a few grammar errors. So I think that I will do just fine in that class. Literature Analysis is going fine. We just finished our first book, Ana en el Tropico. All we really do in there is read and answer questions. Sometimes it is hard to understand some of the book but the class is still easy so thats good. I have a quiz next week in Phonetics and in Conversation. But I am sure they will go fine.
I also got an intercambio. Thats the thing I wrote about earlier where I will met with a native Spanish speaker that knows English and we will switch our time between both. The girl is 20 and also majoring in education. I am excited. Hopefully we can be friends and hangout for than just for the intercambio.
I talked to my host sister for a while yesterday. My host parents went to the opera. They showed me how to warm up my food in the microwave, I had susuage and these potatoe things with cheese inside. They were really yummy. I ate dinner with my sister and we talked. That was nice. I am deffinatly feeling more comfortable in their home day by day so hopefully by the end of this I feel even greater! I still miss my parents and friends and sister but at least I am in tune with the fact that I am here and I am enjoying my time. The weeks go by way faster here than they did while I was studying at MSU. It's kinda weird but I know that my time here will pass fast.
I'm exicted to stay the weekend in Valencia. The super bowl is Sunday and I know there is someplace to watch it but I don't know that I will. I need to ask my family if they are going to watch it and my friends from here. Anyway well I have class soon so I will talk to you guys later.
LOVE YOU!!!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Mi fin de semana
Hola!
Sorry that it has been so long. So be in for a long ride because this is going to be a long post.
So we had school of and went to Sevilla but instead of taking the train, we rented 2 cars. There were 10 of us all together, 4 boys and 6 girls. We got to the car rental place at the airport and realized we had overlooked one small detail, the cars that we were renting, were stick shifts. Everyone shit their pants I am pretty sure. Luckily, Sean knew how to drive one and Jana did a bit but hadn't driven one in years. Instead of being able to split up the drive between all of us, those two had to do all the driving. Jana freaked out a lot but we made it safely. We stalled, hit some cars on the small streets, stalled going up a huge hill, but we made it back to Valencia alive.
After the 8 hour drive to Sevilla we had finally arrived. Sevilla was beautiful. We stayed for two nights, deciding we would go to Granada for another night. We stayed at a hostel where the woman kept yelling at us to be quiet. It was fun. The first night we were there, we just went out because we got there so late. This was a lot of fun. We didn't end up really going anywhere because we knew of no place to go. We just walked around and had a good time. Friday we got up and went to lunch and then went to the Catedral de Sevilla. It only cost 2 euros to get in and is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen in my life. The Catedral is the largest in Europe and even had Christopher Columbus's tomb inside of it. We climbed to the top of the bell tower and the view was spectacular. I loved it. It was the best part of the trip. We also went around the city and to the Torro de Oros. Its this place that is on the river and inside it is made of pure gold. That night we were celebrating Sarah's 21st birthday. We actually found bars to go to and had a lot of fun. I made a lot of Spanish friends. Everytime the guys we traveled with left us alone, a flock of Spanish boys would surround us. It was a good way to pratice my Spanish but I couldn't understand a lot. However, they spoke a bit of English. They kept telling me that I was funny when I missed up my Spanish.
Saturday we left for Granada. But on our way trying to leave we had some difficulties. We had to take 3 taxis to where we parked our cars because there were so many of us. The taxi driver took my group to the wrong place. When we walked across the street to take another taxi and told them we wanted to go to Hospital San Lorenzo..all they said was "No existe", which mean it does not exist. We all looked at each other in horror. What do you mean it doesn't exist? We parked our car right by it. Finally the guy was able to tell us that there was a hospital but that was not the name. We finally got to our car and made our way to Granada. This was only about a 3 hour ride.
Once we got to Granada, we got lost a bit around the city. We finally decide to just go to the Alhambra and find a hostel later. The Alhambra was amazing. It is this beautiful Mosque that was built long ago. It looks like its own little city. Apparently, it is the most visited attraction in Espana. So that says a lot because there is deffinatly a lot here. We didn't really have a lot of time in Granada so that was about the only thing we saw. That night we stayed in a Hostel and we went to dinner at a pizzeria. I had the best pasta ever. At least thats what I think but the only other thing that I had ate that day was a WHOLE can of pringles. First and last time that I am doing that in my life. Anyway I didn't go out that night, I decided to get some sleep and it was wonderful.
In the morning we left to come back to Valencia. Again, it was a long drive with the stick shift but we made it okay. It was wonderful to be back. That night, I had a lot of homework to do. I did that and ate dinner with my family. We had cheese pizza. It was yummy. I went to bed and got up for school the next morning. Yesterday at school, things went well. I understand most of what my teachers say even though it is all in Spanish. But there are only little things that I do not get. Last night we watched another movie at school, Vovler with Penolope Cruise. It was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. It was good and I am pretty sure that I understand most of it. It is a lot easier to understand when you can hear and read at the same time. Today, Tuesday, school went well again. I talked to my madre for a while when I got back and that was nice and then I did some homework.
We have school on Friday this weekend so no traveling for me. I think we may go see Guerra de las novias "Bride Wars" and shop or go around the city of Valencia. Plus, I know that I'll have homework to do. I can't believe it is almost Feburary and that the Superbowl is Sunday. I should ask my family if they watch that here. Well I will try to keep more up to date on this.
Thanks for reading!
Love you!
Sorry that it has been so long. So be in for a long ride because this is going to be a long post.
So we had school of and went to Sevilla but instead of taking the train, we rented 2 cars. There were 10 of us all together, 4 boys and 6 girls. We got to the car rental place at the airport and realized we had overlooked one small detail, the cars that we were renting, were stick shifts. Everyone shit their pants I am pretty sure. Luckily, Sean knew how to drive one and Jana did a bit but hadn't driven one in years. Instead of being able to split up the drive between all of us, those two had to do all the driving. Jana freaked out a lot but we made it safely. We stalled, hit some cars on the small streets, stalled going up a huge hill, but we made it back to Valencia alive.
After the 8 hour drive to Sevilla we had finally arrived. Sevilla was beautiful. We stayed for two nights, deciding we would go to Granada for another night. We stayed at a hostel where the woman kept yelling at us to be quiet. It was fun. The first night we were there, we just went out because we got there so late. This was a lot of fun. We didn't end up really going anywhere because we knew of no place to go. We just walked around and had a good time. Friday we got up and went to lunch and then went to the Catedral de Sevilla. It only cost 2 euros to get in and is one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen in my life. The Catedral is the largest in Europe and even had Christopher Columbus's tomb inside of it. We climbed to the top of the bell tower and the view was spectacular. I loved it. It was the best part of the trip. We also went around the city and to the Torro de Oros. Its this place that is on the river and inside it is made of pure gold. That night we were celebrating Sarah's 21st birthday. We actually found bars to go to and had a lot of fun. I made a lot of Spanish friends. Everytime the guys we traveled with left us alone, a flock of Spanish boys would surround us. It was a good way to pratice my Spanish but I couldn't understand a lot. However, they spoke a bit of English. They kept telling me that I was funny when I missed up my Spanish.
Saturday we left for Granada. But on our way trying to leave we had some difficulties. We had to take 3 taxis to where we parked our cars because there were so many of us. The taxi driver took my group to the wrong place. When we walked across the street to take another taxi and told them we wanted to go to Hospital San Lorenzo..all they said was "No existe", which mean it does not exist. We all looked at each other in horror. What do you mean it doesn't exist? We parked our car right by it. Finally the guy was able to tell us that there was a hospital but that was not the name. We finally got to our car and made our way to Granada. This was only about a 3 hour ride.
Once we got to Granada, we got lost a bit around the city. We finally decide to just go to the Alhambra and find a hostel later. The Alhambra was amazing. It is this beautiful Mosque that was built long ago. It looks like its own little city. Apparently, it is the most visited attraction in Espana. So that says a lot because there is deffinatly a lot here. We didn't really have a lot of time in Granada so that was about the only thing we saw. That night we stayed in a Hostel and we went to dinner at a pizzeria. I had the best pasta ever. At least thats what I think but the only other thing that I had ate that day was a WHOLE can of pringles. First and last time that I am doing that in my life. Anyway I didn't go out that night, I decided to get some sleep and it was wonderful.
In the morning we left to come back to Valencia. Again, it was a long drive with the stick shift but we made it okay. It was wonderful to be back. That night, I had a lot of homework to do. I did that and ate dinner with my family. We had cheese pizza. It was yummy. I went to bed and got up for school the next morning. Yesterday at school, things went well. I understand most of what my teachers say even though it is all in Spanish. But there are only little things that I do not get. Last night we watched another movie at school, Vovler with Penolope Cruise. It was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. It was good and I am pretty sure that I understand most of it. It is a lot easier to understand when you can hear and read at the same time. Today, Tuesday, school went well again. I talked to my madre for a while when I got back and that was nice and then I did some homework.
We have school on Friday this weekend so no traveling for me. I think we may go see Guerra de las novias "Bride Wars" and shop or go around the city of Valencia. Plus, I know that I'll have homework to do. I can't believe it is almost Feburary and that the Superbowl is Sunday. I should ask my family if they watch that here. Well I will try to keep more up to date on this.
Thanks for reading!
Love you!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Mis clases, Escuela, y otras cosas
Hola todos!
I started my classes on Monday. This week we don't have school Thursday or Friday due to some Saint holiday. We have every other friday off of classes and the classes we have on Friday will alternate. One Friday we will have on Monday and Wednesday Class and then the next friday we will have off and then we will have Tuesday and Thursday class on the next Friday. I am enjoying my classes a lot. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have Converstation and Phonetics, I also had Survey of Spanish Literature 2 but I am going to drop it. Tuesday and Thursdays I have Composition and Literaary Analysis. That is why I am dropping Survey of Spanish Lit 2. I feel that I don't have enough skills for it since I haven't taked my composition class yet or a large reading class. The school we are at has about 70 students in this program, so as you can imagine, the classes are some. I feel like I am in high school all over again. Some of my classes only have 10 students in them. But it is a lot easier to speak and pratice Spanish with less people. Overall I like school. It's something to do during the day and everyone is usually here most of the day because of the internet and there are things to do here. Every Monday night at 7, the schools shows a Spanish movie. On Monday we watched Pans Lybrenth. I had never seen it before. There were English subtitles. Overall it was a good movie, it was funny because somethings what the Spanish meant and what the English subtitle said was a bit off. They would say things and I noticed that it was translated wrong.
So my school life is going well. Not much else has been going on besides school. I've had longer converstations with my host mom now, so thats nice. I found out that she is a History of Art professor and her husband is a english language teacher at the high school. I thought that was pretty neat. For dinner we have had things that I actually like. I was really nervous about the food but it seems that I am going to be okay. Sunday night we had this kinda weird dish but it was just eggs sunnyside up with bacon and cheese in it. Monday night we had chicken noodle soup, but it was just noodles and the brooth no chicken, and fish fillets. Last night we had hamburgers and chicken. I had a piece of chicken, which was small, but tasted delicious and then a hamburger. They don't put cheese on them or do they use buns. That was kinda off but I just used ketchup. For dessert, they always have fruit. Its odd. No cookies or anything but fruit. My dad would not survive. Valencia is famous for oranges here so they usually eat oranges after dinner. I never eat dessert because I am always full.
I watched the inaguration of Obama yesterday on Cnnlive. When I got back to my host home, my dad was watching high lights on Cnn. Some had voiceovers in Spanish and others were just in English. It was fun to watch it. They really like Obama here. Everyone will always ask you if you like Obama more than Bush. So it's a good thing I do otherwise I am not sure what would happen to me. Haha
Some friends and I are going to travel this weekend since we don't have school tomorrow. We are leaving Thursday morning for Sevilla. We will come back Sunday night. We are taking the train. It's an 8 hour ride. But it'll be nice to see the country more. I'm excited to go someplace else. When time goes fast, I forget how much I miss home, my parents, sister, and friends. I like it here a lot. I just wish that everything I loved was here.
Well thats it for now I suppose. I miss you all and thanks for those of you that actually read this.
Love you!
I started my classes on Monday. This week we don't have school Thursday or Friday due to some Saint holiday. We have every other friday off of classes and the classes we have on Friday will alternate. One Friday we will have on Monday and Wednesday Class and then the next friday we will have off and then we will have Tuesday and Thursday class on the next Friday. I am enjoying my classes a lot. On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have Converstation and Phonetics, I also had Survey of Spanish Literature 2 but I am going to drop it. Tuesday and Thursdays I have Composition and Literaary Analysis. That is why I am dropping Survey of Spanish Lit 2. I feel that I don't have enough skills for it since I haven't taked my composition class yet or a large reading class. The school we are at has about 70 students in this program, so as you can imagine, the classes are some. I feel like I am in high school all over again. Some of my classes only have 10 students in them. But it is a lot easier to speak and pratice Spanish with less people. Overall I like school. It's something to do during the day and everyone is usually here most of the day because of the internet and there are things to do here. Every Monday night at 7, the schools shows a Spanish movie. On Monday we watched Pans Lybrenth. I had never seen it before. There were English subtitles. Overall it was a good movie, it was funny because somethings what the Spanish meant and what the English subtitle said was a bit off. They would say things and I noticed that it was translated wrong.
So my school life is going well. Not much else has been going on besides school. I've had longer converstations with my host mom now, so thats nice. I found out that she is a History of Art professor and her husband is a english language teacher at the high school. I thought that was pretty neat. For dinner we have had things that I actually like. I was really nervous about the food but it seems that I am going to be okay. Sunday night we had this kinda weird dish but it was just eggs sunnyside up with bacon and cheese in it. Monday night we had chicken noodle soup, but it was just noodles and the brooth no chicken, and fish fillets. Last night we had hamburgers and chicken. I had a piece of chicken, which was small, but tasted delicious and then a hamburger. They don't put cheese on them or do they use buns. That was kinda off but I just used ketchup. For dessert, they always have fruit. Its odd. No cookies or anything but fruit. My dad would not survive. Valencia is famous for oranges here so they usually eat oranges after dinner. I never eat dessert because I am always full.
I watched the inaguration of Obama yesterday on Cnnlive. When I got back to my host home, my dad was watching high lights on Cnn. Some had voiceovers in Spanish and others were just in English. It was fun to watch it. They really like Obama here. Everyone will always ask you if you like Obama more than Bush. So it's a good thing I do otherwise I am not sure what would happen to me. Haha
Some friends and I are going to travel this weekend since we don't have school tomorrow. We are leaving Thursday morning for Sevilla. We will come back Sunday night. We are taking the train. It's an 8 hour ride. But it'll be nice to see the country more. I'm excited to go someplace else. When time goes fast, I forget how much I miss home, my parents, sister, and friends. I like it here a lot. I just wish that everything I loved was here.
Well thats it for now I suppose. I miss you all and thanks for those of you that actually read this.
Love you!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
El fin de semana (weekend)
Well not much new is really going on. Since the last time I wrote, I have been back to the park with the giant play structure. It is actually a 6 mile long garden/park that use to be a river that dried up. Thats the garden in my facebook pictures. It was so beautiful. I love that they have gardens and parks all over the place here.
Friday night, a group of us went out to a few different bars and discotecas. It was about 3 oclock by the time I got home. Saturday we went to Cullera, which was really pretty. It was a nice day and we mainly sat by the beach, talked, looked up Spanish words, and played cards. It was relaxing. At night we went out again, with everyone from our program. We met at a bar and got free, Agua de Valencia, an alcohol drink that Valencia is famous for. It was really good. It has vodka, orange juice, and champagne in it. We met some really good looking Spaniards at the clubs we went to later and spoke Spanish with them. It was fun. The night life here is CRAZY!!! People don't go out to discotecas until around 2 and if they go to the bar before it isn't until around midnight that they do. Last night walking on the street was crazy. People are over the place. Even older people that aren't teenagers, like 40 and up, go out and walk around super late at night. It's hard for me to keep up. Everyone knows I love sleep and I get tired really easily. Its fun to go out with everyone and a lot of fun but everywhere is so crowded.
Today after I woke up, my family was on their porch/patio/deck thing and I went out there. It was about 65 here today so they were doing work with their flowers and things. I also cried today, I was eating my breakfast and just thinking about my dad and how he poors me my glass of orange juice and how my mom wasn't there to tell me good morning. I went to the Art musuem with my friend Kaitlyn today and it was pretty neat. All the musuems are free on Sundays. We then went to a park and just layed down and read and listened to the Spanish we were hearing.
Tomorrow I start my classes. I am pretty excited because it'll keep me busy and hopefully improve my Spanish. Plus it is another way to meet more people. They have this thing called Intercambios (interchange) if you want one, where the school pairs you up with a Spanish speaker that knows English and wants to work on it more and you switch your time when hanging out between both languages. I'm pretty sure that I am going to do one because it'll give me a lot of practice and maybe my intercambio will be a handsome young spaniard. Probaly not but there is always hoping.
I don't know if I have mentioned this before but it is also really hard to adjust to the times of eating here. They eat breakfast when they wake up, obvisuly just like everyone else, but then they don't eat lunch until around 3 and dinner until 8 or later. My family eats around 9:30 or 10. The other night we didn't eat until 10:30. I was so hungry. I usually eat a orange to help statisfy my stomach until dinner, yes I like oranges now. Valencia is known for their oranges and they are soooo yummy. The food I have ate so far has been good. The first night I was here, I had potatoes and this pot pie thing. One night we had this mushroom soup which was mainly just brooth and pizza with ham on it and then chips and salsa. I ate the soup even though I don't like mushrooms but it was good. We had these fish fillets with green beans, carrots, and potatoes. That was yummy. Last night we had potatoes and these really good chicken things that I thought were chicken fingers but they weren't because she called them something else but I don't know what it was. They tasted kinda creamy. Oh well it was yummy anyway. For lunch we have bocadillos which a sub looking things, I get cheese and turkey on mine along with apple, orange, or bannana. Its a nice mix.
Sorry that this is always random stuff but I need to remember. I should probaly buy a journal to write my own stuff down that way everyone doesn't have to read the boring stuff.
I love you!!!
Friday night, a group of us went out to a few different bars and discotecas. It was about 3 oclock by the time I got home. Saturday we went to Cullera, which was really pretty. It was a nice day and we mainly sat by the beach, talked, looked up Spanish words, and played cards. It was relaxing. At night we went out again, with everyone from our program. We met at a bar and got free, Agua de Valencia, an alcohol drink that Valencia is famous for. It was really good. It has vodka, orange juice, and champagne in it. We met some really good looking Spaniards at the clubs we went to later and spoke Spanish with them. It was fun. The night life here is CRAZY!!! People don't go out to discotecas until around 2 and if they go to the bar before it isn't until around midnight that they do. Last night walking on the street was crazy. People are over the place. Even older people that aren't teenagers, like 40 and up, go out and walk around super late at night. It's hard for me to keep up. Everyone knows I love sleep and I get tired really easily. Its fun to go out with everyone and a lot of fun but everywhere is so crowded.
Today after I woke up, my family was on their porch/patio/deck thing and I went out there. It was about 65 here today so they were doing work with their flowers and things. I also cried today, I was eating my breakfast and just thinking about my dad and how he poors me my glass of orange juice and how my mom wasn't there to tell me good morning. I went to the Art musuem with my friend Kaitlyn today and it was pretty neat. All the musuems are free on Sundays. We then went to a park and just layed down and read and listened to the Spanish we were hearing.
Tomorrow I start my classes. I am pretty excited because it'll keep me busy and hopefully improve my Spanish. Plus it is another way to meet more people. They have this thing called Intercambios (interchange) if you want one, where the school pairs you up with a Spanish speaker that knows English and wants to work on it more and you switch your time when hanging out between both languages. I'm pretty sure that I am going to do one because it'll give me a lot of practice and maybe my intercambio will be a handsome young spaniard. Probaly not but there is always hoping.
I don't know if I have mentioned this before but it is also really hard to adjust to the times of eating here. They eat breakfast when they wake up, obvisuly just like everyone else, but then they don't eat lunch until around 3 and dinner until 8 or later. My family eats around 9:30 or 10. The other night we didn't eat until 10:30. I was so hungry. I usually eat a orange to help statisfy my stomach until dinner, yes I like oranges now. Valencia is known for their oranges and they are soooo yummy. The food I have ate so far has been good. The first night I was here, I had potatoes and this pot pie thing. One night we had this mushroom soup which was mainly just brooth and pizza with ham on it and then chips and salsa. I ate the soup even though I don't like mushrooms but it was good. We had these fish fillets with green beans, carrots, and potatoes. That was yummy. Last night we had potatoes and these really good chicken things that I thought were chicken fingers but they weren't because she called them something else but I don't know what it was. They tasted kinda creamy. Oh well it was yummy anyway. For lunch we have bocadillos which a sub looking things, I get cheese and turkey on mine along with apple, orange, or bannana. Its a nice mix.
Sorry that this is always random stuff but I need to remember. I should probaly buy a journal to write my own stuff down that way everyone doesn't have to read the boring stuff.
I love you!!!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Los días primeros
Yesterday was my first full day here. We had orientation at the school at 10:30 and another one at 5. My madre helped me take the metro over to the school and then wrote my directions on how to take it home. Once I got to the school, I immediatly met another girl from MSU and we went into the computer lab because we were early for the metting. The meeting was done in Enligh, thank goodness. They told us we had another orinetation at 5 but could go home if we wanted or do whatever.
Most of us just stayed at the school and around it the whole day. I went with some other students from MSU walking around town and then we ate lunch. I went back to the school and checked my email and then this boy from MSU, Jeff, was here too. Him and I walked around a bit and found this really cool park. It had a huge play structure that was made out of red rope and it was like a climbing thing. After that we came back to the school and had our other orientation where we found out our schedules for our classes and things. After that we were allowed to go home or again do whatever we wanted. The MSU students that I had met in Detroit and I went out to a bar right by the school. We sat down and had some beers and peanuts. We just talked about our families here and were we wanted to travel and got to know each other better. Our professors were actually at the same bar so that was funny and then we met another student that is here for the year and has been since August so far. We asked him questions about the school and things like that. It was nice to get to know him. He smoked a lot and I wonder if he did before he was here or if it was something he picked up.
I went home after that and ate dinner with my little host brother who is 3. He is the cutest thing I have ever seen, he'll smile at me really big and then run and hide in the couch pillows. My other host brother is 15 and very nice. He's a swimmer and talks really fast Spanish so it is a bit hard to understand him all the time. My host sister is 18 but I haven't seen much of her. All we have really said to each other is Hola. I'm not so sure how that relationship is going to play out. After eating dinner, I talked to my mom on Skype along with Kelly R and it was nice to see their faces and here their voices. I then went to bed and am now at my school. We had to take a test this morning to test our proficency in Spanish. No one is sure what happens if we do bad on this test. So hopefully I did fine. Some of them were a bit hard and others were easy.
Later today at 5, which they call the afternoon, so thats odd. But anyway, we have a walking tour of downtown Valencia so that'll be fun. Tomorrow we have a daytrip to some Castle somewhere thats on a beach and then at night we have a group going out outing. So that'll be fun and I am looking forward to it. Nothing else has really been going on, I haven't been here long enough.
There are some big differences here though and I find them odd so I am going to write them down. The cars park in the middle of the street. Some cars will be angle parked and then cars will park behind them like parralel (spelling totally wrong). Then on the big roads there are just cars parked in the middle of the road and others have to go around them. I took a picture so make sure to look at it. The cereal bowls are super small here. Its so weird, they are the size of like cottage chesse bowls you get at restaurants in the US. The milk here is odd too, you don't have to refridgerate it until its open and it doesn't expire until like 4 months after you buy it. It seems that all the girls here have bangs, so us MSU students joke about how we all should get bangs to fit in. I'd look really funny with those because of my curly hair.
Things are good. I miss home but so does everyone else, so at least I am not alone.
I love and miss you all!!!
Most of us just stayed at the school and around it the whole day. I went with some other students from MSU walking around town and then we ate lunch. I went back to the school and checked my email and then this boy from MSU, Jeff, was here too. Him and I walked around a bit and found this really cool park. It had a huge play structure that was made out of red rope and it was like a climbing thing. After that we came back to the school and had our other orientation where we found out our schedules for our classes and things. After that we were allowed to go home or again do whatever we wanted. The MSU students that I had met in Detroit and I went out to a bar right by the school. We sat down and had some beers and peanuts. We just talked about our families here and were we wanted to travel and got to know each other better. Our professors were actually at the same bar so that was funny and then we met another student that is here for the year and has been since August so far. We asked him questions about the school and things like that. It was nice to get to know him. He smoked a lot and I wonder if he did before he was here or if it was something he picked up.
I went home after that and ate dinner with my little host brother who is 3. He is the cutest thing I have ever seen, he'll smile at me really big and then run and hide in the couch pillows. My other host brother is 15 and very nice. He's a swimmer and talks really fast Spanish so it is a bit hard to understand him all the time. My host sister is 18 but I haven't seen much of her. All we have really said to each other is Hola. I'm not so sure how that relationship is going to play out. After eating dinner, I talked to my mom on Skype along with Kelly R and it was nice to see their faces and here their voices. I then went to bed and am now at my school. We had to take a test this morning to test our proficency in Spanish. No one is sure what happens if we do bad on this test. So hopefully I did fine. Some of them were a bit hard and others were easy.
Later today at 5, which they call the afternoon, so thats odd. But anyway, we have a walking tour of downtown Valencia so that'll be fun. Tomorrow we have a daytrip to some Castle somewhere thats on a beach and then at night we have a group going out outing. So that'll be fun and I am looking forward to it. Nothing else has really been going on, I haven't been here long enough.
There are some big differences here though and I find them odd so I am going to write them down. The cars park in the middle of the street. Some cars will be angle parked and then cars will park behind them like parralel (spelling totally wrong). Then on the big roads there are just cars parked in the middle of the road and others have to go around them. I took a picture so make sure to look at it. The cereal bowls are super small here. Its so weird, they are the size of like cottage chesse bowls you get at restaurants in the US. The milk here is odd too, you don't have to refridgerate it until its open and it doesn't expire until like 4 months after you buy it. It seems that all the girls here have bangs, so us MSU students joke about how we all should get bangs to fit in. I'd look really funny with those because of my curly hair.
Things are good. I miss home but so does everyone else, so at least I am not alone.
I love and miss you all!!!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Estoy en EspaÑa
I finally arrived in Valencia around 3 pm their time so 9 am USA time.
First I went to Detroit to fly to JFK, there ended up being about 8 other students from MSU on that flight. We talked at the gate and got to know each other really well. On our way to JFK a man was having heart problems and we had to have an emergency landing in Rochester, NY. We were suppose to arrive to JFK at 12:30 but we didn't land there until 3:30. This meant that the group of students I was with were late for our meeting time at the Iberia Ticket Counter for our plane to Madrid. Turns out that flight was delayed two hours. We left JFK around 8:30 USA time, we arrived in Madrid at 8:30 their time and a USA time of 2:30. Man was I exhausted. Then we got on a bus to Valencia, it was about a 4 hour bus drive but I slept the whole time.
My host mom was at the bus stop waiting to pick me up. She is so nice. She has a car so that was nice not to have to drag my bags all over town. We went to her house and I met her husband, Fernando and one of the boys Gullimero who is 15. He is really quiet but that could be because he doesn't know much English. I talked to Maria (my host mom) in Spanish the whole time, she doesn't know much English. When she showed me the apartment, which is huge, and my room, I could feel the tears coming on. She was making me some lunch and I went to the bathroom and cried. She was a big comfort though, she knew how I was feeling and she made me feel better. I just didn't cry at the airport and then it finally hit me that I was really here and had to speak Spanish. I understand most of it but somethings she says I don't. I am doing a lot better at the Spanish part than I thought I would be.
She took me to get a cell phone. So now I have number and I called my parents. It was good to hear their voices. Well not much else is going on. It's 8 here now and I am so exhausted, I want to go to bed. Tomorrow I have to go to my school and have orientation than I'm sure everyone will be going out. I't's beauitful here. I'm glad I made the decision to come but something tells me that my crying days are not over yet.
First I went to Detroit to fly to JFK, there ended up being about 8 other students from MSU on that flight. We talked at the gate and got to know each other really well. On our way to JFK a man was having heart problems and we had to have an emergency landing in Rochester, NY. We were suppose to arrive to JFK at 12:30 but we didn't land there until 3:30. This meant that the group of students I was with were late for our meeting time at the Iberia Ticket Counter for our plane to Madrid. Turns out that flight was delayed two hours. We left JFK around 8:30 USA time, we arrived in Madrid at 8:30 their time and a USA time of 2:30. Man was I exhausted. Then we got on a bus to Valencia, it was about a 4 hour bus drive but I slept the whole time.
My host mom was at the bus stop waiting to pick me up. She is so nice. She has a car so that was nice not to have to drag my bags all over town. We went to her house and I met her husband, Fernando and one of the boys Gullimero who is 15. He is really quiet but that could be because he doesn't know much English. I talked to Maria (my host mom) in Spanish the whole time, she doesn't know much English. When she showed me the apartment, which is huge, and my room, I could feel the tears coming on. She was making me some lunch and I went to the bathroom and cried. She was a big comfort though, she knew how I was feeling and she made me feel better. I just didn't cry at the airport and then it finally hit me that I was really here and had to speak Spanish. I understand most of it but somethings she says I don't. I am doing a lot better at the Spanish part than I thought I would be.
She took me to get a cell phone. So now I have number and I called my parents. It was good to hear their voices. Well not much else is going on. It's 8 here now and I am so exhausted, I want to go to bed. Tomorrow I have to go to my school and have orientation than I'm sure everyone will be going out. I't's beauitful here. I'm glad I made the decision to come but something tells me that my crying days are not over yet.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Goodbyes suck
I can't believe I leave in less than 48 hours for a completely different country. My life could completely change and my experiences in Spain are going to be so amazing. I just can't believe I am leaving.
It has been really hard to say goodbye to my friends in the past two weeks. Thursday night Amber had a surprise dinner for me and it was really nice. I loved having friends here and it was so much fun to go down memory lane.
I went to MSU to say goodbye to my friends there since I didn't get to see many of them over break. It was so nice to be back with everyone but so sad to know that I had to leave. Everyone was getting ready for class and here I was knowing that I had to leave. They are my MSU family and I love them so much. It's going to be so hard not being able to walk into their rooms everyday and tell them every detail of my day and have our pointless conversations.
My packing is going okay. I am taking way too many clothes but I have no idea what stuff to take out. Tomorrow I have to finish packing and then Tuesday I'll leave. I can't imagine how hard it will be to say goodbye to my parents at the airport. I love them so much and they are so supportive of me going on this new adventure. I know it's going to be really hard on my mom.
Well I don't really have much more to say--just know that I am going to miss my life here; Lapeer and MSU.
I love you all!!!
It has been really hard to say goodbye to my friends in the past two weeks. Thursday night Amber had a surprise dinner for me and it was really nice. I loved having friends here and it was so much fun to go down memory lane.
I went to MSU to say goodbye to my friends there since I didn't get to see many of them over break. It was so nice to be back with everyone but so sad to know that I had to leave. Everyone was getting ready for class and here I was knowing that I had to leave. They are my MSU family and I love them so much. It's going to be so hard not being able to walk into their rooms everyday and tell them every detail of my day and have our pointless conversations.
My packing is going okay. I am taking way too many clothes but I have no idea what stuff to take out. Tomorrow I have to finish packing and then Tuesday I'll leave. I can't imagine how hard it will be to say goodbye to my parents at the airport. I love them so much and they are so supportive of me going on this new adventure. I know it's going to be really hard on my mom.
Well I don't really have much more to say--just know that I am going to miss my life here; Lapeer and MSU.
I love you all!!!
Friday, January 2, 2009
11 Days
I can not believe that I leave for Spain in 11 days!
It is so nuts to think that all my friends are getting ready to go back to MSU or the other colleges and that I am not going back. It is going to be so weird not moving back into my dorm room with everyone else. I feel bad that I am not going to be there to see everyone else.
I got luggage for Christmas. I haven't started packing at all yet though. I can take two suit cases. I don't know how I am going to be able to fit all of my stuff in them or what I am going to take/leave at home. I also need to make sure I leave enough room to bring stuff back since I am sure that I will be shopping a lot there and bringing back gifts.
I am really nervous about going but always super excited. I know that it'll be a great experience and that I won't ever regret it but it is still nerveracking. I have never had to rely on my Spanish as much as I know I'll have to in Spain. My host family does speak English but I shouldn't use my English to communicate with them unless I really don't understand something. It is going to be really hard for me to break out of the speaking English shell but I know that I can do it.
Anyway, I'll write more sometime before I leave after I've packed my stuff.
It is so nuts to think that all my friends are getting ready to go back to MSU or the other colleges and that I am not going back. It is going to be so weird not moving back into my dorm room with everyone else. I feel bad that I am not going to be there to see everyone else.
I got luggage for Christmas. I haven't started packing at all yet though. I can take two suit cases. I don't know how I am going to be able to fit all of my stuff in them or what I am going to take/leave at home. I also need to make sure I leave enough room to bring stuff back since I am sure that I will be shopping a lot there and bringing back gifts.
I am really nervous about going but always super excited. I know that it'll be a great experience and that I won't ever regret it but it is still nerveracking. I have never had to rely on my Spanish as much as I know I'll have to in Spain. My host family does speak English but I shouldn't use my English to communicate with them unless I really don't understand something. It is going to be really hard for me to break out of the speaking English shell but I know that I can do it.
Anyway, I'll write more sometime before I leave after I've packed my stuff.
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